Crown court backlog: Record number of cases waiting more than year to be heard
Record numbers of victims are waiting more than a year for their case to be heard as the crown court backlog in England and Wales continues to soar.
There were 80,829 outstanding cases at the end of June, Ministry of Justice figures show.
Of these, the number which have been waiting to be dealt with for a year or more has hit a record high of 23,706, up 22% from 12 months earlier (19,384).
Some 7,255 of these had been open for at least two years – up 15% from 6,295 in June 2025 and another record high.
Nearly a quarter of the cases which have been in the crown court backlog for at least 12 months are for sex crimes.
Meanwhile, the average length of an open case topped 200 days for the first time.
The median average stood at 203 days at the end of June, up from 197 days at the end of March and 168 days a year earlier.
According to the data published on Thursday, the total crown court backlog has nearly doubled in size in the past six years, having risen from 43,403 at the end of June 2020.
The latest figures have jumped from 80,437 at the end of March and are up 3% from 78,226 a year earlier.
Outstanding cases in magistrates’ courts also peaked at 380,230 at the end of June, up 9% on the previous 12 months (347,365).
In June ministers warned it could take “nearly 300 years” to bring the backlog of cases back to levels seen before the coronavirus pandemic without major reforms to cut jury trials.
But the move is contentious and new Justice Secretary Alex Norris has been urged to abandon the plan. Downing Street previously declined to say if Prime Minister Andy Burnham supported the idea.
The Conservatives’ shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy accused Labour of spending its time in office “attacking our ancient right to a jury trial, rather than taking effective action to tackle the courts crisis.”
Courts minister Sarah Sackman said the figures “lay bare the scale of the challenge facing our courts, with victims waiting far too long for justice – that’s why it’s our priority to reduce the backlog so that cases are heard sooner”.
She insisted the Government was “acting on all fronts” to “bring down the backlog and deliver faster and fairer justice”.
Sexual offences make up 23% of crown court cases open for at least a year, up from 21% in June 2025 and 19% in June 2024, Press Association analysis shows.
They also account for 21% of cases open at least two years, up from 17% 12 months ago.
A total of 5,495 cases involving sexual offences had been open for one year or more as of June 30 this year, including 2,563 cases involving rape.
This is up sharply from 4,014 sexual offence cases in June 2025, of which 1,804 were rape cases.
The category of offence that makes up the single largest proportion of cases open for at least one year remains violence against the person, accounting for 30% of the total in June, up from 29% in 2025 and 25% in 2024.
Law Society of England and Wales president Mark Evans urged the Government to “seize the chance to deliver a long-term, whole-system plan for criminal justice reform”.
Andrew Thomas KC, chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, said the rate the backlog was rising was slowing down but called for “urgent, practical measures which focus on the root causes of delay” for victims, adding: “There is no escaping the need for extra investment”.
Ministers last month pledged £1.5 million to help fund the training of 100 more barristers per year in a bid to remove barriers to the legal profession and tackle the backlog of cases.
Published: by Radio NewsHub