Accredited official statistics

Criminal court statistics quarterly: January to March 2025

Published 26 June 2025

Applies to England and Wales

1. Main Points

Magistrates’ court: increase in open caseload	Case receipt and disposal volumes fell on the previous year. But receipts remained above disposals - as a result, the open caseload increased to 310,304.
Crown Court: increase in open caseload	Receipts continued to increase and remained close to series highs. Disposal volumes are stable, but they remain below receipts. As a result, the open caseload continued to increase and reached a series peak of 76,957.
Crown Court: increase in average age of open case	The median age of open cases and number of cases open for a year or more both increased compared to the previous quarter – with a series peak of 18,093 cases open for a year or more.
Ineffective trial rates remain stable	The ineffective trial rate at both the magistrates’ courts (22%) and Crown Court (26%) have settled at higher levels than those seen before 2020.
Time from offence to completion at the magistrates’ court is unchanged	The median time from offence to completion at the magistrates’ court was unchanged on the previous year - estimates remain above levels seen prior to 2020.
Timeliness for charge to completion at the Crown Court cases increased	The median time from charge to completion at the Crown Court increased, up 5% on the previous quarter and estimates remain well above levels seen prior to 2020.

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

2. Statistician’s comment

This report covers the period to the end of March 2025.

The demand on the criminal courts continues to grow with receipt volumes maintaining high levels at the magistrates’ – with increases seen for more serious “for trial” cases. Receipts at the Crown Court have maintained high-levels over the last year, with over 30,000 cases entering the Crown Court in the latest quarter.

Disposals volumes have shown little change but remain below receipts at both magistrates and Crown courts resulting in the open caseload continuing to grow. At the Crown Court the open caseload continued to report a series peak, reaching 76,957 cases at the end of March 2025.

In the latest period trial effectiveness has remained stable and time taken for Crown Court cases has increased slightly following falls from series peaks – both remain above pre-COVID levels seen in 2019.

3. Changes to note

3.1 Action following data quality review

The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) have carried out a review of the quality of criminal court statistics.

The OSR are confident in the quality of the criminal court statistics and are satisfied that we have provided sufficient assurances to users about the quality of Crown Court data. As a result, the publication has retained its accredited official statistics status.

The OSR identified two recommendations that we have addressed in this release to enhance the quality of the statistics.

• We have reviewed and updated the data quality guidance published alongside the report to take account of significant improvements in the processes undertaken by MOJ and HMCTS to quality assure the underlying data.

• We have made the guidance more accessible by streamlining standalone products and moving this into a single HTML page so that users can find all of the relevant support guidance in one place.

3.2 One Crown development

We have carried out two consultations regarding the One Crown project and the result changes to the Crown Court data. We received no external response raising concerns of the definitional changes or impacts on published series.

There are no further changes made to published measures in this latest release. However, we are not able to provide some of the annual measures as supplied in previous CCSQ releases. The ongoing data development work means that we have an opportunity to reconsider the data offering in CCSQ including the metric design, purpose and frequency to ensure that outputs meet user needs both in terms of content and frequency.

The development of measures remains ongoing and further updates concerning proposed changes to annual measures will be set out in the next edition of this release due for publication in September 2025.

3.3 Single Justice Procedure (SJP) - statistics in development

Alongside this release we are publishing statistics in development concerning Single Justice Procedure (SJP) cases in the criminal courts for the first time. This includes high-level findings regarding the SJP caseload at the magistrates’ courts, plea entry and sentence outcomes to provide a coherent picture of the activity of the SJP across the available published measures.

The release of this data addresses needs identified as part of the MoJ consultation ‘Open Justice: the way forward’. The consultation has informed the government’s continuing work on supporting and strengthening the openness of our courts and tribunal services and upholding the rule of law.

We will continue to develop this series and seek to build on the measures published here in the appropriate quarterly Accredited Official Statistics publications – e.g., caseload and timeliness information forms part of Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly and sentence outcomes form part of the Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly releases. We will also consider the frequency and detail required of these data in line with user needs.

4. Criminal cases in the magistrates’ courts

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Open caseload at the magistrates’ courts increased slightly

Receipts and disposals at the magistrates’ courts fell 5% on the previous year. Despite this, disposals remained below receipts and as a result the open caseload increased slightly on the previous quarter (1%) and 13% on the previous year.

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Figure 1: Magistrates’ courts caseload, Q1 2019 – Q1 2025 (Source: Table M1)

4.1 Magistrates’ court caseload

HM Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) have reviewed the way that the magistrates’ court open criminal caseload was captured, and we previously revised the caseload series back to 2019. No further revisions have been made to the series in this release but the quality of the open caseload estimate is continuing to be monitored and reviewed.

Receipts and disposals have both tended to rise from series lows in Q2 2020 when the initial measures were put in place to manage the immediate risks of the COVID-19 pandemic in courts^{[footnote 1][footnote 2][footnote 3]}. The latest levels remain slightly below those seen in 2019 prior to the pandemic.

• There were 347,533 cases received into the magistrates’ courts in Q1 2025. This is down 5% on the previous year (366,025) and remains just below levels seen in 2019. Despite an overall decrease on the previous year there were notable increases in ‘for trial’ (13%) and summary non-motoring cases (8%).

• In line with receipts, disposals at the magistrates’ court fell by 5% on the previous year – with 344,994 disposals in Q1 2025. This is due to a continued fall in summary motoring cases, down 20% on the previous year. Whereas “for trial” case disposals have increased – up 5% on the previous year.

• At the end of March 2025 there were 310,304 open cases at the magistrates’ courts. This represents a slight increase on the previous quarter (307,789) and a 13% increase on the previous year (273,498). There was a 32% increase in the volume of open “for trial” cases, up from 59,452 to 78,389 at the end of March 2025.

4.2 Trial efficiency at magistrates’ court

Trial efficiency measures at the magistrates’ courts remain largely unchanged on the previous quarter - 40% were effective, 39% cracked and 22% ineffective.

The ineffective trial rate has stabilised following the initial increases seen across 2020 and remain above pre-COVID levels (15-17%).

Figure 2: Magistrates’ courts listed trials and ineffective trial rate (%), Q1 2014 – Q1 2025 (Source: Table M2)

5. Criminal cases in the Crown Court

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Continued increase in the open caseload at the Crown Court

Receipts remained close to series high levels while disposals fell back slightly on the previous year. Disposal volumes remain below receipts and as a result, the open caseload continued to increase to a new series peak of 76,957.

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5.1 Crown Court caseload

The increased throughput from the magistrates’ courts as part of the initial recovery from the pandemic response saw the volume of receipts at the Crown Court exceed pre-COVID levels in late 2020. Following a slight decline, receipts have tended to increase since 2023, surpassing levels seen immediately pre-COVID and those seen in 2016.

There were 30,083 cases received into the Crown Court in Q1 2025. This maintains the high level of demand seen since Q1 2024.

Figure 3: Crown Court caseload, Q1 2016 – Q1 2025 (Source: Table C1)

• The increase in demand at the Crown Court in the last year is seen in “for trial” cases (6%) while other case types fell - for sentence (-8%) and appeal cases (-2%).

• There were notable increases in the volume of receipts for sexual offences (9%) and public order offences (8%) compared to the previous year.

• Violence against the person offences continue to be the largest contributing offence group with 8,592 receipts in the period – this represents an increase of 46% compared to Q4 2019 and accounts for 29% of all cases received in the quarter.

There were 27,950 cases disposed at the Crown Court in Q1 2025. The volume remains broadly in line with those seen over the last year, down 1% on the previous quarter (28,126) and the previous year (28,188) but well above levels seen in Q4 2019 (23,132).

• The largest proportionate increase in disposals was seen for the most serious indictable only cases which increased by 4% on the previous year, whereas total “for trial” cases increased by 1%.

• Sexual offence disposals increased 6% on the previous year and maintained levels last seen in 2016. Like the trends in case receipts there has been a notable and consistent increase in violence against the person disposals.

The open caseload reflects the workload in the courts at any 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 cases that have been recently received, those close to being disposed, those which are complex and take time to complete and those that may be delayed.  The open caseload fell between 2016 and 2019, and at the end of 2019 it stood at 38,056.

At the end of March 2025 there were 76,957 open cases at the Crown Court, this is a series high and continues increases seen since Q1 2023.

The open caseload increased by 3% on the previous quarter (74,592 cases) and 11% on the previous year (69,021 cases).

• The largest increases in the open caseload compared to the previous year were seen for violence against the person (19%) and sexual offences (18%).

• The increases in open caseload volumes can be seen for all regions except for the North West which fell slightly on the previous quarter. London reported the largest open caseload at 17,492 – this represents an increase of 9% on the previous quarter (16,018) and 22% on the previous year (14,289).

5.2 Age of open caseload – official statistics in development

The age of an open case is calculated from receipt at Crown Court to the end of the reporting period. The average age of an open case increased markedly from series lows in 2019 but both median and mean measures have fallen back from series peaks in 2021 and 2022.

At the end of March 2025, the median age of an open case was 171 days, this represents a 4% increase on the previous quarter (165 days) and remains markedly above 2019 levels (90 days).

At the end of March 2025 there were 18,093 cases that had been open for a year or more, accounting for 25% of all cases, a slightly greater proportion than last quarter. The latest volume is 8% higher than the previous quarter (16,791) and represents a series peak.

Figure 4: Average age of open cases at the Crown Court, Q1 2016 – Q1 2025 (Source: Table O1)

Figure 5: Proportion of open cases at the Crown Court by grouped age, Q1 2016 – Q1 2025 (Source: Table O3)

5.3 Trial effectiveness at Crown Court

There were 7,924 trials listed to start in Q1 2025 – a decrease of 5% on the same quarter in the previous year. The proportion of trials which commence as planned (effective) remained stable at 43%, this has been fairly consistent for the last two years but it remains below rates seen pre-COVID which average around 50%.

Similarly, the percentage of trials that are not required (cracked) and which are rescheduled (ineffective) remained in line with the previous quarter (30% and 26% respectively). There has been a step-change in the ineffective trial rate on levels seen prior to 2020 (ranging around 13-19%) and rates have stabilised at these higher levels.

Figure 6: Crown Court listed trials and ineffective trial rate (%), Q1 2016 – Q1 2025 (Source: Table C2)

5.4 Guilty plea rate

Guilty plea rate is the number of defendants in cases which have been disposed who entered a guilty plea to all counts as a proportion of all those who entered a plea. The guilty plea rate increased sharply following the immediate COVID-19 response and the suspension of jury trials. More recently it has fallen back to pre-COVID levels, in Q1 2025 the guilty plea rate was 62%, broadly in line with levels seen since the start of 2023.

The number of defendants dealt with via a jury trial following a not guilty plea has fallen 9% on the previous year (from 3,955 in Q1 2024 to 3,609 in Q1 2025). Whereas there has been a small increase in defendants whose case is dropped – up 2% on the previous year (from 3,333 in Q1 2024 to 3,385 in Q1 2025).

5.5 Average waiting time at the Crown Court

Waiting time is the duration between case receipt and first main hearing. The waiting time estimates are a ‘lagged’, backwards looking measure counted at the point of disposal. The median waiting time for defendants dealt with was 9.6 weeks in Q1 2025, this has fallen slightly on the previous year (9.9 weeks) but remains well above pre-COVID levels (7.4 weeks in Q4 2019).

5.6 Average hearing time at the Crown Court

The hearing time estimates are a ‘lagged’, backwards looking measure’ counted at the point of disposal. Hearing time is the duration of all hearings for a completed case. Both median and mean hearing times for all cases completed at the Crown Court have fallen on the previous year, down 4% and 10% respectively.

The median hearing time of ‘for trial’ cases where a not guilty plea was entered has fallen, down 8% on the previous year from 11.0 to 10.1 hours.

6. Timeliness

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Time taken for Crown Court cases increased

The median time from offence to completion for cases completing at the Crown Court in the latest quarter increased by 3% compared with the previous quarter to 332 days. This follows falls seen over the last year but timeliness estimates remain well above pre-COVID levels.

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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.

6.1 Single Justice Procedure timeliness

In the latest quarter there were 224,521 defendants dealt with at the magistrates’ courts via the Single Justice Procedure (SJP). This represents 67% of all defendants dealt with at the magistrates’ court (excluding breaches and defendants sent to the Crown Court) and is up 2% on the previous year.

The median duration from offence to completion for defendants dealt with via SJP in the quarter was 188 days, down slightly on the same period in the previous year (190 days).

6.2 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.

Figure 7: Average number of days from offence to completion for defendants dealt with at the magistrates’ courts by stage, Q1 2014 – Q1 2025 (Source: Table T3)

The median duration from offence to completion at the magistrates’ courts stabilised following falls from series highs of around 200 days seen in late 2020 and early 2021. The latest estimates are unchanged on the previous year at 185 days.

• ‘Pre-court’: the median time from ‘offence to charge’ was largely unchanged, falling by 1 day from 138 days to 137 days. Similarly, the time from ‘charge to first listing’ was unchanged on the previous year at 32 days.

• ‘At court’: the median estimate remained stable at 0 days, where the first listing and completion occur on the same day. The mean duration increased slightly to 26 days – this follows sharp increases seen over the COVID period and a peak of 50 days in Q4 2020.

6.3 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 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 to create an ‘end-to-end’ defendant journey across key stages of the criminal justice system.

The median duration from offence to completion for defendants dealt with at the Crown Court has fallen back from series highs – with a decrease of 18% from 407 days in Q1 2022 to 332 days in Q1 2025. The latest estimate remains well above pre-COVID levels (254 days in Q4 2019).

Figure 8: Average number of days from offence to completion for defendants dealt with at the Crown Court, Q1 2016 – Q1 2025 (Source: Table T4)

• ‘Pre-court’: the median time from ‘offence to first listing’ has tended to fall back from a series peak in Q3 2021 (158 days) and the latest quarter continues this trend falling 14% on the previous year from 110 days to 95 days.

• ‘At court’: the median time from first listing at the magistrates’ court to completion at the Crown Court increased. The latest estimate (171 days) represents a 2% increase on the previous year (168 days) and remains above levels seen in 2019 (113 days in Q4 2019).

The median time from charge to completion for defendants dealt with at the Crown Court in Q1 2025 was 180 days. This has tended to fall back from peaks seen in 2021 but the latest estimate represents a small increase of 1% on the previous year (178 days) and 5% on the previous quarter (172 days). The latest estimate remains well above levels seen prior to 2020 (135 days in Q4 2019).

• In ‘for trial’ cases where a not guilty plea was entered, the median duration from charge to completion was 386 days – this is down 2% on the previous quarter (394 days) and 6% on the previous year (410 days).  This has fallen slightly from series peaks seen in 2023 (448 days in Q2 2023).

• For guilty pleas the median duration from charge to completion was 190 days – this represents an increase of 5% on the previous quarter (181 days) and remains above levels seen prior to 2020 (182 days in Q4 2019).

7. Official statistics in development: Language interpreter and translation services

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Completed language service requests rose to a series peak

There were 54,872 completed requests in Q1 2025, up 8% on the previous year and the success rate increased to 97%.

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7.1 Completed service requests

The volume of completed service requests in Q1 2025 was 54,872, this is a series peak and follows high demand seen for interpreter and translation services since 2023. The latest quarter represents a 3% increase on the previous quarter and an 8% increase on the previous year.

The number of unfulfilled requests has fallen sharply compared to Q1 2024 (28%) to 1,276 – this follows a spike seen in the previous two quarters with a peak of 3,722 in Q3 2024.   

As a result of this, the overall success rate in Q1 2025 increased to 97% - back to levels seen prior to the last two quarters which were affected by the June 2024 booking portal update, aimed at improving responsiveness, which caused unexpected issues, that although resolved quickly, temporarily impacted fulfilment rates earlier in 2024. 

The number of cancelled requests fell 4% on the previous quarterly peak from 15,113 to 14,518.  Despite this the volume of cancelled requests remains 34% higher than Q1 2024.

Figure 9: Number of completed language service requests and overall success rate, Q1 2014 – Q1 2025 (Source: Table L1)

7.2 Complaints and complaint rate

There were 322 complaints made in Q1 2025, this represents a decrease of 29% on the spike seen in the previous quarter (455) and has increased on the previous year (252).

The overall complaint rate was 0.6% in the latest period and has remained below 1% since Q3 2020.

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Ineffective trials due to interpreter availability

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

In Q1 2025, around 198 trials were ineffective due to interpreter availability across both magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court. This is largely unchanged on the previous year (196) and continues to account for a relatively small volume of all listed trials (0.6%).

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7.3 ‘Off-contract’ requests

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

MoJ have undertaken a review of the off-contract data collection methods. Improvements to the collection have resulted in a more robust but higher baseline of activity than previously reported. This is considered a necessary change that improves data integrity and more accurately reflects the off-contract request volumes.

The development in this data series reflects the MoJ’s commitment to continuous improvement and best practice - ensuring more reliable insights into booking activity in the future. The improved data is available from Q2 2024 currently and we will seek to revise the back series in future to reflect the improvements.

There were 2,799 ‘off-contract’ requests in Q1 2025, this represents a decrease of 22% on the previous quarter (3,589).

8. 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.

8.1 Accompanying files

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

• Technical guides providing background information and 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.

8.2 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 4]}. 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.

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 Authority promptly. Accredited official statistics status can be removed at any point when the highest standards are not maintained, and reinstated when standards are restored.

8.3 Official statistics in development status

Official statistics in development are official statistics that are undergoing a development; they may be new or existing statistics, and will be tested with users, in line with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. Until September 2023, they were called ‘experimental statistics’. Official statistics in development are developed under the guidance of the Head of Profession for Statistics (HoP). The goal is to develop statistics that can, in due course, be produced to the standards of the Code.^{[footnote 5]}

8.4 Future publications

Our statisticians regularly review the content of publications. Development of new and improved statistical outputs is usually dependent on reallocating existing resources. As part of our continual review and prioritisation, we welcome user feedback on existing outputs including content, breadth, frequency and methodology. In particular, see the financial enforcement section of this publication for some future planned changes. Please send any comments you have on this publication including suggestions for further developments or reductions in content to the contacts listed below. Please send any comments you have on this publication including suggestions for further developments or reductions in content to the contacts listed below.

8.5 Contact

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

Tel: 0203 334 3536

Website: Media Enquiries

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

Email: criminal_court_sta@justice.gov.uk

Next update: 25th September 2025

URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-court-statistics

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Produced by the Ministry of Justice

Alternative formats are available on request from criminal_court_sta@justice.gov.uk

1. https://www.judiciary.uk/guidance-and-resources/coronavirus-covid-19-message-from-the-lord-chief-justice-to-judges-in-the-civil-and-family-courts/ ↩

2. Review of court arrangements due to COVID-19, message from the Lord Chief Justice - Courts and Tribunals Judiciary ↩

3. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/more-face-to-face-hearings-as-courts-reopen ↩

4. https://osr.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/publication/review-of-the-quality-of-criminal-court-statistics-for-england-and-wales/ ↩

5. https://code.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/ ↩