Criminal court statistics quarterly: January to March 2025
Source: gov.uk (2025-06-25)

Type and volume of cases received and processed through the criminal court system of England and Wales, including statistics on case timeliness.

This is the quarterly Q1 2025 criminal courts 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:
- Experimental statistics on ‘the use of Single Justice Procedure in the magistrates’ courts;
- Experimental 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 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.

Criminal court statistics quarterly, January to March 2025

The next criminal court statistics publication is scheduled for release on 25th September 2025.

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