There is a large and growing backlog in both the Crown and magistrates’ courts. The pandemic was a significant driver of this, and particularly affected the ability of courts to deal with jury trials and the most complex cases. But again, the pandemic is only part of the picture. 

Magistrates’ courts initially made good progress working their way through the pandemic-related backlog, reducing it substantially from an all-time high of over 420,000 in mid-2020. However, in 2023 the backlog began to grow again, rising 10% from March to December. The sharp rise towards the end of the year suggests this may be driven by the ongoing capacity crisis in prisons, which has caused some hearings to be delayed.

The situation is even worse in the Crown Court, where the backlog now stands at 67,573, over three quarters (78%) higher than on the eve of the pandemic and the highest on record. Taking account of the greater complexity of cases in the backlog, we calculate this to be the equivalent of 95,045 cases. The backlog has continued to grow since pandemic restrictions were lifted in 2021 and strike action by criminal barristers was resolved in 2022.

The root cause of this growing backlog is declining efficiency in the courts. A lack of legal staff, poor-quality infrastructure and less time spent actually in hearings have all contributed to this. ‘Ineffective trials’, where a trial is scheduled and then rearranged on the day, have risen dramatically and made up more than a quarter of all Crown Court trials in 2023, up from 15% in 2014.