Criminal court statistics quarterly: April to June 2026
Type and volume of cases received and processed through the criminal court system of England and Wales, including statistics on case timeliness.
Applies to England and Wales
Documents
Details
Details
This is the quarterly Q2 2026 Criminal court 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:
- Statistics on ‘the use of language interpreter and translation services in courts and tribunals;
Additional data tools and CSVs have also been provided.
Statisticians comment
This report covers the period to the end of June 2026.
Receipt volumes into the criminal courts remained above disposals causing open caseloads to increase. At the end of June 2026, the open caseload at both the magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court reached series peaks of 380,230 and 80,829 respectively.
The increase is seen in more serious non-SJP cases at the magistrates’ courts which reached a post-COVID peak. The Crown Court has seen a continued rise in receipts for sexual offence and rape cases, with rape receipts reaching a series peak.
The age of the open caseload at the Crown Court continues to increase, with cases open for a year or more reaching a series high. More than half of these were sexual offences or violence against the person offences.
Ineffective trial rates remained relatively high and timeliness showed small increases in both jurisdictions compared to the previous year.
Criminal court statistics quarterly, January to March 2026
The next criminal court statistics publication is scheduled for release on 24th September 2026.
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 post holders:
Ministry of Justice
Private Offices; Permanent Secretary; Director General, Policy; Director General, Chief Operating Officer Group; Direct, Courts and Family Justice; Director Analysis; Director, Chief Data Officer; Deputy Director, Criminal Justice Strategy and Criminal Courts Policy; Criminal Court Policy and Procedure; Criminal Court Insights; Deputy Director, Courts and Tribunals Joint Unit; Courts and Tribunal Joint Unit; Deputy Director, RASSO and Domestic Abuse Policy; Rape Review; Courts Victim Experience and Attrition; Deputy Head of News; 3 Press Officers.
His Majesty’s Court and Tribunals Service
Chief Executive, HMCTS; Chief Finance Officer, HMCTS; Director of Operations, HMCTS; Director, Strategy Analysis and Planning; Director, Communications; Head of External Communications, HMCTS; Deputy Director of Analysis and Performance (x2); Crime reporting and analysis; Deputy Director, Crime Live Service Owner; Crime Service Manager (x2); Deputy Director, Intelligent Client Function and Contract Services Division; Operational Contract Manager; Contract Support Officer.
Judicial Office
Chief Executive; Head of Digital and Data; Data Analyst (x2)
No.10
Private Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs; Justice and Home Affairs Policy Unit; Communications; Analysts