National statistics

Criminal court statistics quarterly: October to December 2019

Type and volume of cases received and processed through the criminal court system of England and Wales, including statistics on case timeliness. Also includes statistics on the use of language interpreter and translation services in courts and tribunals, England and Wales.

Applies to England and Wales

Documents

Criminal court statistics (quarterly): October to December 2019

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Criminal Court statistics (quarterly): October to December 2019 (tables)

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Crown Court plea tool

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Crown Court cases received, disposed and outstanding tool

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Crown Court average waiting and hearing time tool

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Magistrates' court cases received, disposed and outstanding tool

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Criminal court case timeliness tool

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Offence group timeliness of cases at the criminal courts tool

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Trial effectiveness at the criminal courts tool

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Transparency files

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Guide to criminal court statistics

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Criminal court statistics quarterly: Data Quality Statement

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Guide to language interpreter and translation service statistics

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Experimental Statistics: Failure to Appear (FTA) warrants, data to December 2019

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Experimental Statistics: Failure to Appear (FTA) warrants, data to December 2019 (tables)

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Details

This is the quarterly Q4 2019 criminal courts statistics publication.

The statistics here focus on key trends in case volume and progression through the criminal court system in England and Wales. This also includes:

  • Management information concerning the enforcement of financial penalties in England and Wales;

  • Experimental statistics on ‘the use of language interpreter and translation services in courts and tribunals;

  • Experimental statistics on Failure to Appear Warrants at magistrates’ courts in England and Wales.

The Crown Court information release is published as management information on the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary website. This has been affected by the changes to the administrative systems at Crown Court and as such has not been updated for Q4 2019.

Additional data tools and CSVs have also been provided.

Key findings

  • Overall receipts into the magistrates’ courts increased by 1%, due to a 9% increase in summary motoring cases. Receipts for ‘trial cases’ fell to a series low in Q4 2019, down 2% on the previous year. The volume of outstanding cases remained broadly in line with levels seen since Q2 2016
  • The number of receipts into the Crown Court has increased by 10% compared to the same quarter in 2018, whilst the number of disposals has fallen by 8% over the same period.
  • Outstanding case estimates have increased by 13% on the previous year, from 33,113 in Q4 2018 to 37,434 in Q4 2019. This is the biggest increase since 2013, which followed the abolition of committals.
  • The average waiting time for all case types at the Crown Court fell to 5.7 weeks in Q4 2019. This is a decrease of just under a week compared to Q4 2018 (6.6 weeks) and less than half of the peak seen in Q2 2015 (13.0 weeks).
  • For cases completing at the magistrates’ court, the average number of days from offence to completion increased (11%), largely due to increases from offence to charge/first listing (14%).
  • For cases completing at the Crown Court, time ‘at court’ fell by 12% compared to the previous year, whereas average time spent ‘pre-court’ increased.
  • The total value of financial impositions outstanding in England and Wales was £1.21 billion, up 10% on the previous year and 2% on the previous quarter.
  • Language interpreters: the number of completed language interpreter requests in Q4 2019 (42,436) increased 8% compared to the previous year, while the success rate remained at 97%.
  • Failure to Appear (FTA) warrants: In the 12 months to December 2019 just under 71,000 FTA warrants were issued; this was 5% fewer than in 2016 and 23% fewer than in 2010. For every 100 hearings, there have been 3 and 4 FTA Warrants issued over the whole period. However, for cases initiated by postal charge, that ratio has increased markedly from 2% at the start of 2016 to 10% in 2018, and has remained constant throughout 2019.

Criminal court statistics (quarterly), January to March 2020

The next criminal court statistics publication is scheduled for release in June 2020.

Pre-release

In addition to Ministry of Justice (MOJ) professional and production staff, pre-release access to the quarterly statistics of up to 24 hours is granted to the following postholders:

Ministry of Justice

Permanent Secretary; Director General, Policy, Communications and Analysis; Director, Criminal Justice Policy; Deputy Director, Criminal Courts Policy; Criminal Court Reform Lead; Jurisdictional and Operational Support Manager; Head of Data and Analytical Services; Chief Statistician; 5 Press Officers.

Her Majesty’s Court and Tribunals Service:

Chief Executive, HMCTS; Deputy Chief Executive, HMCTS; Deputy Director of Legal Services, Court Users and Summary Justice Reform; Head of Operational Performance; Head of Criminal Enforcement team, HMCTS; Head of data and management information, HMCTS; Head of Management Information Systems; Head of Communications; Head of News; Jurisdictional Operation manager and Head of Contracted Services and Performance for HMCTS Operations Directorate

Home Office

1 Senior Policy Official and 1 Statistician.

Published 26 March 2020