Accredited official statistics

Statistics in development - Single Justice Procedures

Published 26 June 2025

Applies to England and Wales

1. Introduction

We are releasing 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 (CCSQ) and sentence outcomes form part of the Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly (CJSQ) releases. 

We will also consider the frequency and detail required of these data in line with user needs.
Feedback concerning this release and the measures published can be sent to: - criminal_court_sta@justice.gov.uk

2. Background

The Single Justice Procedure (SJP) was introduced by the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 and allows adult defendants accused of summary-only, non-imprisonable, victimless offences to be tried and sentenced on the evidence (papers) by a single magistrate without a hearing. SJP cases can be brought by a variety of prosecuting authorities by post or via the Automated Tracked Case Management system (ATCM). 

The ATCM was introduced from April 2017, it is His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Services (HMCTS) end-to-end digital service that enables prosecutors to directly upload their SJP cases digitally.

Defendants receive a notice containing the charge by post, and they have the option to plead guilty by post, online or ask for a court hearing. SJP cases are heard by one magistrate sitting with a legal adviser, but all SJP cases, verdicts and sentences are publicly available in the list of pending SJP cases.

We identify a case of SJP via the initiation type as recorded on the magistrates’ courts administrative systems.  The initiation type used in these statistics refers to SJP notices only.  If a defendant requests a hearing in the magistrates’ courts it will form part of the non-SJP caseload.

The data presented is considered official ‘statistics in development’ - they are new breakdowns of existing statistics, and we are testing these with users, in line with the standards of trustworthiness, quality, and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics.  The data is sourced from the same systems and is a subset of the existing Accredited Official Statistics series.  It has undergone the same quality assurance procedures and considerations as the headline published measures – further details of these can be found in the supporting guidance.

The SJP data is sourced from a variety of existing measures - they all come from the same source systems have the time series and breakdowns available vary. The totals do not match across these measures due to differences in counting basis, extraction dates and validation applied.

Additional data quality checks have been included to identify and resolve known issues concerning the recording of incorrect initiation types in the legacy LIBRA data.  The validation has ensured that only offences and sentence outcomes which are allowed under SJP are detailed in the statistics presented.

The receipts, disposals and outcomes data for the period 2018 and 2023 (with the vast majority of affected cases prosecuted from 2020) includes cases where railway prosecutors erroneously used the Single Justice Procedure to prosecute offences contrary to section 5(1) or 5(3) of the Regulation of the Railways Act 1889. In August 2024, the Chief Magistrate issued a judgment on a small number of cases where several train companies had prosecuted using the Single Justice Procedure (SJP) in error. He decided that these cases should be declared invalid, and anything paid for that offence should be reimbursed. This affected approximately 60,000 cases. For further information see here.

The MoJ currently publishes quarterly statistics concerning the volume and timeliness of defendants dealt with via the SJP as part of Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly (Table T1). In addition, we routinely supply further breakdowns of this data to meet users’ needs on request via Parliamentary Questions and Freedom of Information Act requests.

The statistics in development presented here seek to further meet user needs and build on the available data to support routine monitoring and increase transparency on the process.

3. Caseload

The magistrates’ courts caseload data presented is a further breakdown of the headline caseload measures published in Criminal Court Statistics Quarterly (Table M1) and give an overview of the workload volumes for SJP cases including receipts, disposals and open cases at the magistrates’ courts.

The data presented here is available from 2019 only – this is in line with the wider caseload measures and reflects the available data following improvements to the open caseload estimations made in the previous two iterations of CCSQ.  We have used defendant counts to provide a fuller back series of activity since SJPs were introduced. The counts are very similar to caseload estimates given the nature of the SJP, e.g., a single defendant in a case.

Figure 1 – Cases disposed of via SJP, England and Wales, Q2 2015 – Q1 2025

• In Q1 2025 there were 196,011 cases received via the SJP, this is a decrease of 10% on Q1 2024.  The volume of SJP case receipts has tended to increase following lows seen during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and since 2023 have returned to levels seen in 2019.  In Q1 2025 there were 197,321 cases disposed of via the SJP.  Similar to the trend in receipts, this represents a decrease of 9% on the previous year but has tended to stabilise slightly above pre-COVID levels since the start of 2023.
• At the end of March 2025 there were 137,210 SJP cases open at the magistrates’ courts – this is up 8% on the previous year (126,540).  For the last two quarters disposals have remained above receipts as such the open caseload has fallen back from a series peak seen in Q3 2024 (147,456).

In Q1 2025, SJPs made up more than half of the magistrates’ court caseload – accounting for 57% of all receipts and 56% of all disposed cases.  Despite this they accounted for only 44% of open cases, a reflection of the short amount of time required to reach a disposal.

Although the volume of receipts and disposals for SJP cases have been steadily increasing, the percentage of the magistrates’ caseload that SJPs account for has remained fairly stable.

The non-SJP open caseload increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic response but fell back to pre-COVID levels by 2021.  Since 2022, this has tended to increase, up 32% from around 131,000 in Q1 2022 to 173,000 cases in Q1 2025 – the highest levels seen since peaks in 2020.

Figure 2 – Magistrates’ court open caseload by initiation type (SJP and non-SJP), England and Wales, Q1 2019 – Q1 2025

4. Offences

SJPs can only be issued for summary non-imprisonable offences for adult defendants.
In Q1 2025, around 78% of defendants dealt with by SJP were for summary motoring offences and 22% for summary non-motoring offences.

The highest volume offence was speeding, accounting for 31% of all defendants dealt with in the latest quarter – this has consistently been the highest volume offence for SJP cases across the series. 

The SJP covers a wide range of offences but the most common ten by volume accounts for around 94% of all of defendants dealt with in the latest period.

The makeup of the high-volume offences has largely remained unchanged across the series with some exceptions. Some notable changes in volume for the top 10 offences were an increase in railway offences from 7,646 in Q1 of 2019 to 27,427 in Q1 of 2025, and a decrease of TV license evasion from 32,980 in Q1 of 2019 to 6,974.

Figure 3 – Top 10 offences for defendants dealt with via SJP, England and Wales, Q1 2025^{[footnote 1]}

5. Plea

The process and behaviour of plea entry for SJP cases differs markedly to those for magistrates’ courts and Crown Court cases.  As a result, the plea rates differ notably and valid comparisons cannot be drawn between the respective rates of plea entry in the criminal court data.

• If a defendant pleads guilty, the case is dealt with under the SJP, a process whereby a single magistrate, supported by a legal adviser, decides the case on the evidence (papers) without the need for a court hearing. The defendant may however request a hearing in open court where the case will be transferred accordingly. If they request a hearing, this would be dealt with as a new case and not recorded as a SJP case.
• If the defendant does not respond within 21 days of receiving the SJP notice, the case is typically proved in their absence and sentenced accordingly. The magistrate will consider the evidence provided by the prosecutor and any available information about the defendant. Defendants retain the right to appeal or make a statutory declaration if they were unaware of the proceedings.
• If the defendant pleads not guilty, the case is automatically transferred to the magistrates’ court for a full hearing. This would be dealt with as a new case and not recorded as a SJP case.

In Q1 2015 around a quarter of defendants dealt with via a SJP entered a guilty plea (24%).  A further 2% entered a not guilty plea and sought a hearing in the magistrates’ courts.  Most of the defendants dealt with did not enter any plea (74%).

6. Prosecutors

The most common prosecutor of SJPs in Q1 of 2025 was the police (54%), followed by the DVLA (23%) and local authorities (6%).

Over time, the proportion of SJPs by prosecutor have remained relatively stable, with some notable exceptions being:

• A gradual decrease in TV licensing prosecutions since Q1 of 2017 (from 37,462 to 6,984),
• An increase in prosecutions brought by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) since Q4 of 2016 (from 21,695 to 52,252).

When SJP was introduced in 2015, there was a gradual increase in case volumes as prosecutors moved over to using the procedure, with some using it from the outset (e.g. police) and others taking more time to be granted permission to use it which will influence trends.

7. Outcomes

Almost all defendants dealt within SJP cases in 2024 received a fine (99%), with a very small number of other disposals resulting in absolute discharges, conditional discharges, compensation or other outcomes.

The average fine (excluding companies) was £284 in 2024, this has fallen slightly from a peak in 2021 (£340) and returned to levels seen between 2017 and 2019.

The average fine amount (excluding companies) varies by offence type and as such the average will largely reflect the higher volume offences, e.g., speeding and vehicle registration offences.

• The average fine amount is higher for some offences such as ‘Failing to supply identity information of driver (MOT)’ with an average of £622 in 2024.
• The average amount was lower for some offences such as ‘Travelling by railway without paying correct fare, failing to show ticket, failing to give name and address etc’ with an average of £141 in 2024, increased from £73 in 2017.

There is no maximum fine amount for SJPs overall, but some offences have maximums as set out in the sentencing guidelines and legislation for each offence.

8. Demographic breakdowns

Demographic data concerning the age, sex and ethnicity of defendants dealt with via SJP is not well recorded and therefore we are unable to present it here.
This is due to the nature of the SJP and operationally how prosecutors would reasonably capture and report this information. There is no opportunity for HMCTS to adequately capture the demographic details of a defendant unless it is recorded by the prosecuting authority or made available by defendants responding to a voluntary protected characteristics survey when they enter an online plea.

1. SJPs administered for Public Health Offences primarily consist of littering offences ↩