Criminal court statistics quarterly: October to December 2025
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
This is the quarterly Q4 2025 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 December 2025.
The demand entering the criminal courts remained high and continues to outstrip disposal volumes. As a result, open caseloads continued to grow to series peaks at both the magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court - passing 80,000 for the first time at the Crown Court.
In addition, the age of the open caseload at the Crown Court continues to increase, with a higher proportion of cases open for a year or more.
Trial ineffectiveness remained high at both the magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court, with 22% and 26% of listed trials needing to be rescheduled.
Timeliness from charge to completion continued to rise. At the Crown Court this has returned to levels seen in early 2024. Whereas at the magistrates’ courts timeliness increased considerably for Single Justice Procedure cases, causing overall timeliness to approach levels last seen in 2021.
Criminal court statistics quarterly, October to December 2025
The next criminal court statistics publication is scheduled for release on 25th June 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