Accredited official statistics

Criminal court statistics quarterly: April to June 2026

Published 24 September 2026

Applies to England and Wales

Main points

The open caseload in the magistrates’ courts increased to a series peak	At the end of June 2026 there were 380,230 open cases in the magistrates’ courts, a new series peak. This is a 9% increase on the previous year (347,365) and a 2% increase on the previous quarter (371,980), mostly due to increases in non-SJP cases.
The open Crown Court caseload increased to a series peak	At the end of June 2026 there were 80,829 open cases at the Crown Court, a new series peak. This represented a 3% increase on the previous year (78,226) and a small increase on the previous quarter (80,437).
Crown Court: increase in cases open for a year or more	The number of cases open for a year or more reached a series peak of 23,706, 22% higher than the previous year and 5% above the previous quarter. The median age of open cases continued to increase, reaching 203 days.
Ineffective trial rates stable at higher levels	The ineffective trial rate decreased in the magistrates’ courts from 22% to 20% in the last year, the lowest level it has been since 2020. At the Crown Court, the rate has fluctuated between 23% and 26% since the start of 2024, rising slightly over the previous quarter. Both rates continue to be well above pre-COVID levels.
Timeliness at the magistrates’ courts remains high	Median time from charge to completion at the magistrates’ courts remains high (50 days) but fell back slightly in the previous two quarters, following a 60% increase between Q3 2024 (35 days) and Q4 2025 (56 days).
Timeliness increased at the Crown Court	Median time from charge to completion and the time from receipt to completion at the Crown Court continued to increase, both rising by 6% on the previous year. The time from receipt to completion for jury trials increased by 15% over the last year to a series peak.

The technical guide to ‘Criminal court statistics’ and ‘Language interpreter and translation services in courts and tribunals’ can be found at the links below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-guide-to-criminal-court-statistics

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/guide-to-language-interpreter-and-translation-services-statistics

Statistician’s 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.

Changes to note

1. One Magistrates

Following the data improvements seen as a result of the One Crown project we are working with His Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) to take forward the One Magistrates project. This project involves reviewing all data we publish concerning the magistrates’ courts and aims to improve quality, coherence and value for users.

We aim to start integrating new caseload data from the project into the next release of CCSQ in December 2026. This will be followed by further changes in future releases, covering other areas of magistrates’ courts’ activity. The December publication will be accompanied by a user consultation, outlining what the changes are and quantifying their impact on the published figures.

2. Crown Court open caseload revision

There has been a small upwards revision made to the open caseload at the Crown Court in this release. The open caseload back series has been revised up by less than 1%. This is the result of ongoing HMCTS data assurance activity in preparation for the decommissioning of the XHIBIT case recording system. Courts are validating and updating additional case information leading to cases originally excluded from our counts being moved into the open caseload. Although volumes have been updated, trends remain unchanged. There may be further revisions in future publications due to additional work taking place in this area.

3. One Crown data development

Work alongside HMCTS continues to consider the reintroduction of published data relating to grounds for sending. A further update on the inclusion of this proposed measure will be provided in the December 2026 release.

4. Interpreters contracts

From October 2026, the new Language Services contracts introduce a secondary spoken-language supplier, enhanced quality assurance arrangements and strengthened performance monitoring. The contracts place greater emphasis on data transparency, with improved management information and performance reporting to support oversight of fulfilment, quality and demand. The new arrangements are also intended to reduce reliance on off-contract provision, which may influence future trends in booking and expenditure statistics.

1. Criminal cases in the magistrates’ courts

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Open caseload at the magistrates’ courts increased to a new series peak

Receipts remained above disposals, causing a 2% increase in the open caseload on the previous quarter and a 9% increase on the previous year to 380,230.

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Figure 1: Magistrates’ courts caseload, Q1 2019 – Q2 2026 (Source: Table M1)

Magistrates’ courts caseload

Receipts at the magistrates’ courts generally increased post-COVID up to Q1 2025 but have since fluctuated between 360,000 and 390,000, falling 5% in the latest quarter. Disposals followed a similar trend, fluctuating since 2025 and falling by 6% in the latest quarter. Levels of both are comparable to those seen pre-COVID in 2019.

There were 365,357 cases received into the magistrates’ courts in Q2 2026. This is down 5% relative to the previous quarter (386,095) and down 2% on the previous year (374,391).

• However, when looking at receipts for trial cases, receipts stood at 76,708 in Q2 2026, a 3% increase compared to the previous year but slightly below the previous quarter. When looking across the previous year, receipts for triable-either-way cases increased by 4%.

• SJP receipts stood at 208,384, an 8% decrease on the previous quarter and 5% on the previous year. SJP cases accounted for over half of receipts in the latest quarter.

• Non-SJP receipts stayed at a similar level to both the previous quarter and the previous year, 1% below the series peak of 159,040 from the previous quarter.

There were 357,064 disposals at the magistrates’ courts in Q2 2026. This is down 6% on the previous quarter (379,022) but broadly stable compared to the previous year (360,297).

• SJP case disposal volumes fell by 7% on the previous quarter to 209,740 but were generally in line with the level seen since the start of 2025. Disposal and receipt volumes have been broadly similar over the last two quarters.

• Non-SJP disposals decreased by 4% on the previous quarter and by 3% on the previous year, reaching 147,324 cases. This is broadly in line with the level seen since the start of 2023. Disposal volumes remain below receipts and this has been the case for most quarters since 2023.

• When looking at trial cases, disposals reached a post-COVID series peak in Q1 2026 at 74,135. For Q2 2026, disposals fell to 70,014, which represented a 6% decrease relative to the previous quarter and 4% on the previous year.

At the end of June 2026 there were 380,230 open cases at the magistrates’ courts, a peak since the comparable series began in 2019. This represents a 2% increase on the previous quarter (371,980) and a 9% increase on the previous year (347,365). Since Q2 2023 receipts have exceeded disposals every quarter, which has led to a quarterly increase in the open caseload.

• The open SJP caseload was 184,261, broadly the same as the previous quarter. It remains close to the series peak (188,051 in Q3 2025). The SJP open caseload makes up just under half of the overall open caseload at the magistrates’ courts.

• The open non-SJP caseload continued to increase and stood at 195,969 at the end of June 2026. This represents a 5% increase compared to the previous quarter and a 16% increase on the previous year. This approximately equates to four months of non-SJP disposals.

• The open “for trial” caseload reached a series peak of 89,727 in Q2 2026. This represents an 8% increase on the previous quarter and a 22% increase on the previous year. This has been rising since Q1 2022 (50,692), although the rate has increased in recent quarters, potentially impacted by the increase in magistrates’ sentencing powers since November 2024.

Trial efficiency at magistrates’ court

Trial efficiency measures at the magistrates’ courts improved slightly compared to the previous year. 40% were effective, 40% cracked and 20% ineffective, with the effective proportion increasing by two percentage points relative to the previous quarter.

Figure 2: Magistrates’ courts listed trials and ineffective trial rate (%), Q1 2014 – Q2 2026 (Source: Table M2)

Following a step change from 17% to 23% across 2020 and 2021, the ineffective trial rate has stabilised at this higher level but fell to 20% in Q2 2026, the lowest it has been since 2020.

• The largest contributing ineffective reasons this quarter were overlisting (23%), defendant absence (13%), the defence not being ready (15%) and other cases overrunning (9%).

There were 4,520 vacated trials in the latest quarter, a 7% decrease compared to the previous quarter and a 9% decrease on the previous year. The volume has returned to the level seen in 2024.

• Just over half of vacated trials (53%) were due to the prosecution discontinuing the case prior to trial, with a further 16% due to an anticipated lack of court time and 12% due to the defendant changing their plea to guilty.

2. Criminal cases in the Crown Court

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Open caseload at the Crown Court has risen to a new series peak

There were 80,829 open cases at the end of June 2026, an increase of 392 cases when compared to the previous quarter. Receipts fell by 7% on the previous year and disposals fell by 4%.

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Crown Court caseload

Both receipts and disposals have decreased over the previous quarter and previous year, with annual reductions of 7% and 4% respectively. Receipts have shown a generally decreasing trend since the middle of 2024 whereas disposals have fallen back from a series peak in the previous quarter.

Receipts exceeded disposals, leading to an increase in the open caseload by 392 cases, following stabilisation in Q1 2026.

Figure 3: Crown Court caseload, Q1 2016 – Q2 2026 (Source: Table C1)

There were 28,234 cases received into the Crown Court in Q2 2026, a 4% decrease on the previous quarter (29,532) and a 7% decrease on the same period in 2025 (30,505).

• The decrease over the previous year was driven by a fall in triable-either-way receipts (falling 15% from 13,012 to 11,106) and small decreases for indictable only, committed for sentence and appeals receipts. Recent decreases in receipts are likely the result of increased magistrates’ sentencing powers coming into effect in November 2024.

• Violence against the person offences saw the largest proportionate drop in receipts over the previous year (14%). This remains the largest contributing offence group, accounting for 27% of all cases received. Similar falls were seen for robbery, drug offences and possession of weapons offences (all down 12% compared to Q2 2025).

• Despite overall falls, sexual offence receipts increased by 3% over the last year with notable increases seen for rape offences to a series peak of 1,516 in the latest period (child rape receipts increasing by 10% and adult rape receipts increasing by 19%).

There were 27,837 cases disposed of at the Crown Court in Q2 2026, representing a 6% decrease on the previous quarter and a 4% decrease on the previous year. Disposal volumes fell back from a post-COVID series peak in the previous quarter of 29,610 disposals.

• Decreases were seen across receipt types, with the largest proportionate decrease being a 15% decrease in appeals disposals over the last quarter from 1,569 to 1,329. Committed for sentence disposals fell by 10%, with indictable only disposals decreasing by 5% and triable-either-way disposals falling by 2%.

• When looking at offence groups over the previous year, the largest proportionate decreases in disposals were for possession of weapons offences (10%), violence against the person offences (8%) and theft offences (7%).

• In line with the increase in receipts, disposals for sexual offences increased by 4% with disposals for adult rape offences increasing by 9%.

The open caseload reflects the workload in the courts at a given time. It will never be zero, as it reflects the volume of cases that are active in the courts at a particular point, including those recently received, those close to being disposed, those which are complex and take time to complete and those that may be delayed. It is useful to consider timeliness and volumes of receipts and disposals alongside the open caseload for important context.

At the end of June 2026 there were 80,829 open cases at the Crown Court. This represented an increase of 392 cases when compared to the previous quarter (less than 1%) and 2,603 cases (3%) over the previous year. Receipts have exceeded disposals in three of the previous four quarters with the previous quarter (Q4 2025 to Q1 2026) being the only time that the open caseload has decreased since the start of 2023.

The latest open caseload volume broadly compares to around nine months of disposals, based on latest disposal levels and not factoring in any receipts during this period.

• The largest offence group in the open caseload is violence against the person, accounting for 30% of all open cases. Sexual offences make up 20% of the open caseload and the volume reached a series peak in Q2 2026 at 16,089 cases. Drug offences are the third largest contributor, accounting for 13% of open cases.

• When looking across the previous year, the open caseload for sexual offences increased by 22%, including a 26% increase in open rape cases. Fraud offences and public order offences also increased by 10% and 8% respectively, with other offence types staying at a similar level or decreasing slightly.

• Looking at the previous year, three regions saw their caseload increase with London seeing an increase of 14% (2,517 cases), the South West saw an increase of 10% (606 cases) and the Midlands saw an increase of 7% (900 cases).

• Three regions saw notable decreases over the last year with the North West and Wales seeing a 4% decrease and the South East seeing a 5% decrease in open caseload. The North East saw a marginal decrease by 1% (110 cases).

Age of open caseload

The age of an open case is calculated from the date of receipt at Crown Court to the end of the reporting period.

At the end of June 2026, the median age of an open case was 203 days, a series peak. This represents a 3% increase on the previous quarter (197 days) and a 21% increase on the previous year (168 days).

Figure 4: Average age of open cases at the Crown Court, Q1 2016 – Q2 2026 (Source: Table O1)

• There were 23,706 cases that had been open for a year or more, accounting for 31% of all open cases, a series peak. The volume has increased by 22% on the previous year (19,384) and 5% on the previous quarter (22,572). For the last six quarters, the volume has grown by around 1,000 each quarter.

• Over half of the cases open for a year or more were violence against the person (30%) or sexual offences (23%). Furthermore, 11% of cases open for a year or more were rape cases.

• The offence groups with the highest proportion of cases open for a year or more were fraud (43%), sexual offences (35%) and miscellaneous crimes against society (34%).

Figure 5: Proportion of open cases at the Crown Court by grouped age, Q1 2016 – Q2 2026 (Source: Table O3)

Trial effectiveness at Crown Court

There were 7,766 trials listed to start in Q2 2026, an increase of 4% on the previous year. The proportion of effective trials which commenced as planned decreased from 46% to 44% compared to the previous quarter. The rate has been fairly consistent since the start of 2023 but remains below rates seen pre-COVID which averaged around 50%.

The percentage of trials which were not required (cracked) or were rescheduled (ineffective) both increased slightly on the last quarter at 31% and 25% respectively. This followed a two-percentage point fall in both across Q1 2026.

Ineffective trial rates have stabilised (between 23% and 26%) since the start of 2024 but are well above rates seen in 2019.

• When looking at the reasons for trial ineffectiveness, overlisting remained the largest contributor (27%), followed by the defence or prosecution not being ready (24%) and the defendant being absent (12%).

There were 6,197 vacated trials in the latest quarter, a 13% increase on the previous year (5,464).

• 42% of vacations were due to the defendant changing their plea to guilty, 20% due to the prosecution discontinuing the case prior to the trial date and 12% due to an anticipated lack of court time.

Figure 6: Crown Court listed trials and ineffective trial rate (%), Q1 2016 – Q2 2026 (Source: Table C2)

Guilty plea rate

The guilty plea rate is the number of defendants in for trial cases which have been disposed who entered a guilty plea to all counts as a proportion of all those who entered a plea.

In Q2 2026 there were 11,436 defendants dealt with following a guilty plea, a 4% decrease on the previous quarter but a similar level to the previous year. The guilty plea rate was 61% and is in line with levels seen since the start of 2023.

• There were 3,953 defendants dealt with via a jury trial following a not guilty plea, accounting for 21% of all defendants entering a plea and is in line with levels seen since 2022 (19% - 23%).

• Defendants dealt with via a jury trial following a not guilty plea in the Crown Court represented 3% of all trial cases disposed of at the magistrates’ courts and Crown Court. If all case types are included (appeals, sentence and SJP cases), this proportion drops to 1% of all cases.

• There were 3,379 defendants whose case was dropped, accounting for 17% of defendants in disposed trial cases. The volume of dropped cases has generally risen since Q3 2022, although the volume has fallen back from a series peak in the previous quarter.

Average waiting time at the Crown Court

Waiting time is the duration between case receipt and first main hearing for all defendants dealt with at the Crown Court. The waiting time estimates are a ‘lagged’, backwards looking measure counted at the point of disposal.

The median waiting time for all defendants dealt with at the Crown Court was 11.3 weeks in Q2 2026. This is a 7% increase on the previous quarter and an 11% increase on the previous year. The level remains well above pre-COVID levels (7.7 weeks in Q4 2019).

• For those defendants dealt with via a jury trial following a not guilty plea, the median waiting time was 49.7 weeks. This represented an increase on both the previous quarter (4%) and the previous year (12%). This has generally been increasing since Q3 2024 (43.9 weeks) and is much higher than the time seen in Q4 2019 (27.1 weeks).

• The median waiting time for those entering a not guilty plea for defendants remanded into custody was 28.0 weeks compared to 68.6 weeks for those on bail throughout. These have increased by 6% and 9% respectively in the previous year.

Average hearing time at the Crown Court

Hearing time refers to the total duration of all hearings heard in the Crown Court for a case including preliminary, main and sentence hearings. Hearing time estimates are a ‘lagged’, backwards looking measure for completed cases.

Both median and mean hearing time for all cases completed at the Crown Court have fluctuated slightly in recent years. The median time has remained around 1.0 hours throughout the series (since the start of 2016) and the mean has remained just above 3 hours (3.2 hours in the latest period).

• The median hearing time was 10.7 hours for jury trial cases where a not guilty plea was entered. This was broadly unchanged on the previous quarter and the previous year.

• In Q2 2026, the longest average hearing time in jury trial cases where a not guilty plea was entered was for sexual offences, with a median of 13.7 hours. For rape cases, this increased to 16.0 hours.

3. Timeliness

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Time from charge to completion has increased in both the magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court over the previous year

At the magistrates’ courts, the median time from charge to completion remains high and has stabilised over the previous year, rising slightly from 49 to 50 days. At the Crown Court, charge to completion increased by 3% on the previous quarter and by 6% on the previous year, rising from 179 to 189 days over the year.

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The timeliness measures are based on defendants whose cases have completed and as such are ‘backwards’ looking measures of timeliness between offence and completion at the relevant criminal court jurisdiction.

Magistrates’ courts timeliness

Timeliness at the magistrates’ courts measures the time from an offence being committed through key stages of the criminal justice system including charge or laying of the information, first listing and the subsequent completion of a defendant’s case at the magistrates’ court.

Recent changes in magistrates’ court timeliness are largely due to trends seen for Single Justice Procedure (SJP) cases. In the latest quarter, almost 206,000 defendants were dealt with via SJP (64% of all defendants dealt with at the magistrates’ courts excluding breaches and those sent to the Crown Court), compared to over 115,000 defendants in non-SJP cases.

The time from offence committed through to completion provides a useful estimate of the total time a victim of crime will have waited to reach a court outcome. This includes time spent prior to an offence being reported to the authorities and time taken for investigation.

• Timeliness from offence to completion (195 days) was similar to the previous quarter but 3% higher than the previous year (190 days). Timeliness has remained at a similar level since the start of 2024, following a rise from 178 days in Q3 2023.

• In the latest period, timeliness for SJP cases stood at 197 days, similar to 195 days the year before. Since 2022, timeliness has remained around the 180 to 200 days mark.

• Timeliness for non-SJP cases has been increasing in recent periods, rising by 5% in the latest quarter and 8% over the last year to 157 days. The recent increase has seen timeliness return to the level seen throughout 2024, following a dip to 134 days in Q4 2025.

Figure 7: Average number of days from offence to completion for defendants dealt with at the magistrates’ courts by stage, Q1 2016 – Q2 2026 (Source: Table T3)

The time from charge to completion provides an estimate of the time that criminal justice agencies have spent progressing a case through to reaching an outcome at court.

• Timeliness from charge to completion has tended to increase, rising from 35 days in Q4 2023 to 50 days in Q2 2026. This has fallen back slightly in the previous two quarters (from 56 days in Q4 2025).

• The increase from Q4 2023 to Q4 2025 was driven by SJP cases, which saw a considerable increase in time from charge to first listing, due to police forces migrating SJP casework to the Common Platform system from December 2024. SJP timeliness decreased by 14% in the previous two quarters to 49 days, now that the process has embedded.

• In contrast, for non-SJP cases (unaffected by the system migration) the time from charge to completion increased by 9% in the latest quarter to 58 days and by 29% over the last year. This increase has resulted from an increase in time from charge to first listing, which rose by 29% over the last year.

Time spent from first listing to completion (‘At court’) is short with most cases concluding on the same day as the first listing. This is particularly the case for defendants dealt with via the SJP.

• The median time spent ‘At court’ remained at 0 days for SJP cases but increased from 2 days to 7 days for non-SJP cases. This is the longest ‘At court’ time has been since 8 days in Q2 2021 and follows an increase from 0 days in Q2 2025.

• When looking at the mean, ‘At court’ time remained at 8 days for SJP and increased to 69 days for non-SJP cases, reflecting the fact that a small proportion of cases take a lot longer than one day. A notable increase can be seen for defendants dealt with for triable-either-way offences, up from 60 days in Q4 2024 to 70 days in Q2 2026, following an increase in magistrates’ sentencing powers.

Crown Court timeliness (“End-to-end”)

End-to-end timeliness measures the time from an offence being committed through key stages of the criminal justice system including prior to report, investigation, charge, passage through the magistrates’ courts and subsequent completion of a defendant’s case at the Crown Court. The estimates are created by linking magistrates’ courts and Crown Court data outputs from legacy systems to create an ‘end-to-end’ defendant journey across key stages of the criminal justice system.

The time from offence committed through to completion provides a useful estimate of the total time a victim of crime will have waited to reach an outcome at the Crown Court.

• The median duration from offence to completion for defendants dealt with at the Crown Court increased by 5% on the previous quarter (347 days) and 10% on Q2 2025 (332 days), rising to 365 days. This is the first time the duration has reached a year since Q2 2023 but is below the series high of 405 days seen in Q1 2022.

Figure 8: Average number of days from offence to completion for defendants dealt with at the Crown Court, Q1 2016 – Q2 2026 (Source: Table T4)

The time from charge to completion provides an estimate of the time that criminal justice agencies have spent progressing a case through to reaching an outcome at court.

• The median time from charge to completion for defendants dealt with at the Crown Court was 189 days, a 3% increase on the previous quarter (184 days) and a 6% increase on the previous year (179 days). Timeliness has started to rise over the previous three quarters but is still below the post-COVID peak of 211 days seen in Q1 2022.

• For defendants dealt with via a jury trial following a not guilty plea, the median duration from charge to completion was 445 days, an increase of 2% on the previous quarter (436 days) and up 14% on the previous year (389 days). The latest level is close to the series peak of 448 days seen in Q2 2023.

The median time from receipt to completion for defendants dealt with at the Crown Court was 170 days, similar to the previous quarter but up 6% on the previous year (161 days). This has risen steadily since Q3 2024 (146 days).

• For defendants dealt with via a jury trial following a not guilty plea, the median duration from receipt to completion reached 418 days, an increase of 3% on the previous quarter and up 15% on the previous year (362 days). This constitutes a new series peak and follows a general quarter-on-quarter increase seen since Q1 2025.

4. Language interpreter and translation services

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Completed language service requests rose on the previous year

There were 53,253 completed requests in Q2 2026, up 4% on the previous year. The success rate of 96% has remained broadly unchanged over the previous year. These figures cover the whole of the Ministry of Justice and not just the criminal courts.

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As well as the data included in this bulletin, the Cabinet Office also publish Key Performance Indicator (KPI) data on all central government contracts including those delivering the MOJ language interpreter and translation services. There are 12 KPIs covering four contract lots, with the same scope as the published official statistics. The Cabinet Office provide a quarterly snapshot of supplier performance against contract terms and more closely track operational delivery of the contract.

These KPIs are produced using similar underlying data sourced from contract providers but they serve a different purpose to the official statistics. The official statistics provide a broader view of the contracted service and provide longer-term and more granular breakdowns of trends in booking volumes, fulfilment, complaints and off-contract use. Both KPIs and official statistics can be used together to provide a coherent picture of performance under these contracts, albeit some of the measures will not be directly comparable.

Please see [A Guide to language interpreter and translation services statistics](A Guide to language interpreter and translation services statistics - GOV.UK for further information on the differences between the metrics published.

Key links:

MOJ Language Interpreter and Translation Service statistics (Tables L1-L3): Criminal court statistics - GOV.UK (see Tables document)

• L1 – Request fulfilment

• L2 – Complaints

• L3 – Off contract requests

MOJ Trial Effectiveness Tool: Criminal court statistics - GOV.UK (see Trial effectiveness at the criminal courts tool)

• Reason 29: Ineffective reason: No interpreter available

Cabinet Office KPI data: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for government’s most important contracts - GOV.UK

The Cabinet Office publish KPI data quarterly by financial year and it is available from 2020 Q1. To find data relating to interpreters and language services you can search for ‘Translation and Transcription’, ‘Language Services Lot 1’, ‘Language Services Lot 3’ and ‘Language Services Lot 4’ within the ‘Contract title and description’ column. Alternatively, you can search for the individual suppliers under the ‘Supplier’ column: ‘thebigword Group’, ‘Clarion Interpreting Ltd’ and ‘the Language Shop’.

Completed service requests

The volume of completed service requests (53,253) was similar to the previous quarter but increased by 4% on the previous year (51,339).

The 96% success rate seen in Q2 2026 remained stable, the same as the previous quarter and down one percentage point on the previous year. The success rate has generally remained around this level since 2018, except for a short drop in 2024.

There were 13,625 cancelled requests in Q2 2026. The proportion of cancelled requests has tended to increase across the current contract from 13% in Q4 2017 to 26% in Q2 2026. The proportion has remained broadly stable at this higher level since Q1 2025. Cancellations are not considered as part of the success rate calculation.

Figure 9: Number of completed language service requests and overall success rate, Q1 2014 – Q2 2026 (Source: Table L1)

Complaints and complaint rate

There were 286 complaints made in Q2 2026. The overall complaint rate was 0.5% in the latest period and has remained below 1% since Q3 2020.

Ineffective trials due to interpreter availability

An ineffective trial is one that does not go ahead on the scheduled trial date, and a further listing is required. This can be due to action or inaction by one or more of the prosecution, the defence, or the court.

Statistics regarding the volume of criminal court trials which are rescheduled on the planned start date due to interpreter availability are published as part of the trials efficiency tool covering both the magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court. The trials data is collected as part of the quarterly trial efficiency measures and it is not directly connected to the source of the interpreters data, as such the two sets of series are not directly comparable.

In Q2 2026, 185 trials were ineffective due to interpreter availability across both magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court. This is broadly consistent with the volumes seen since the start of 2024, with lower volumes seen in previous years. This continues to account for 3% of all ineffective trials.

‘Off-contract’ requests

‘Off-contract’ requests are those which are procured outside of the contracted services where fulfilment cannot be achieved by the supplier.

There were 4,088 ‘off-contract’ requests in Q2 2026. This is 24% higher than the previous quarter and 33% higher than the previous year. This also represents a new series peak.

Off-contract bookings increased in Q2 2026, reflecting a combination of operational demand and the availability of contracted language services. Reliance on off-contract provision is expected to reduce following implementation of the new language services contracts in October 2026.

The MoJ undertook a review of the off-contract data collection methods, which improved the robustness of the series from Q2 2024 onwards. This change led to a higher baseline of activity than previously reported prior to this quarter.

5. Further information on criminal courts data

The data presented in this publication are from live administrative databases. Therefore, previously published data is liable to be updated in the latest bulletin, following any further data cleaning or the incorporation of additional cases not available in the extracts used to produce previous bulletins.

Accompanying files

As well as the bulletin, the following products are published as part of this release:

• Technical guides providing background information and a standalone quality guide.

• A set of overview tables, covering each section of this bulletin.

• Pivot tools and underlying data which feature further breakdowns of published data.

Accredited Official Statistics status

Accredited Official Statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. These Accredited Official Statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) in March 2025^{[footnote 1]}. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled as accredited official statistics.

Our statistical practice is regulated by the OSR, which sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

It is the Ministry of Justice’s responsibility to maintain compliance with the standards expected for Accredited Official Statistics. If we become concerned about whether these statistics are still meeting the appropriate standards, we will discuss any concerns with the OSR promptly. Accredited Official Statistics status can be removed at any point when the highest standards are not maintained and reinstated when standards are restored.

Contact

Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice press office:

Tel: 0300 790 0711

Website: Media Enquiries

Other enquiries and feedback about these statistics should be directed to:

Email: criminal_court_sta@justice.gov.uk

Next update: 10th December 2026

URL: Criminal court statistics collection

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Produced by the Ministry of Justice
Alternative formats are available on request from criminal_court_sta@justice.gov.uk

1. Review of the quality of criminal court statistics for England and Wales – Office for Statistics Regulation ↩