Criminal court statistics quarterly: January to March 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
This is the quarterly Q1 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 March 2026.
The demand entering the criminal courts remained high and receipts continued to exceed disposal volumes in the magistrates’ courts. This led to an increase in the open caseload to a new series peak, just exceeding 370,000 cases. Half of the caseload is for low-level SJP cases, while more serious non-SJP cases increased to a post-COVID peak (184,565).
In the Crown Court, the open caseload remained at around 80,000 - stabilising at the level seen in December 2025 and falling by less than 100 cases in the latest quarter.
Receipts levels were unchanged on the previous quarter and disposals increased slightly to a post-COVID quarterly peak, just exceeding incoming demand.
The increase in Crown Court disposals was largely seen for non-jury trial cases, including guilty pleas and dropped cases.
The age of the open caseload at the Crown Court continues to increase, with cases open for a year or more reaching a series peak of over 22,000. Of those cases open for a year or more, over half were sexual offences or violence against the person offences.
Trial ineffectiveness remained high across both jurisdictions and timeliness generally continued to show small increases.
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