Civometry

Answered from official statistics · Ministry of Justice

How big is the Crown Court backlog?

2026 Q1

80,061cases

Crown Court open cases were 80,061 cases at 31 March 2026, up 4.9% (3,704) from 76,357 at 31 March 2025.

  1. Ministry of Justice
  2. Criminal court statistics quarterly
  3. Table C1
  4. published 25 June 2026
  5. full metric page

Crown Court open cases: 80,061 cases, 2026 Q1

The number of criminal cases outstanding at the Crown Court in England and Wales at the end of the quarter, including trials, committals for sentence and appeals.

Crown Court open cases: 2016 Q1 to 2026 Q1ConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeLabourLabour025k50k75k2016201820202022202420262016 Q1: 48,255 cases · published 25 June 20262016 Q2: 44,858 cases · published 25 June 20262016 Q3: 43,461 cases · published 25 June 20262016 Q4: 43,110 cases · published 25 June 20262017 Q1: 41,706 cases · published 25 June 20262017 Q2: 41,105 cases · published 25 June 20262017 Q3: 40,200 cases · published 25 June 20262017 Q4: 38,980 cases · published 25 June 20262018 Q1: 36,840 cases · published 25 June 20262018 Q2: 35,633 cases · published 25 June 20262018 Q3: 34,637 cases · published 25 June 20262018 Q4: 33,049 cases · published 25 June 20262019 Q1: 33,118 cases · published 25 June 20262019 Q2: 34,232 cases · published 25 June 20262019 Q3: 35,430 cases · published 25 June 20262019 Q4: 38,123 cases · published 25 June 20262020 Q1: 40,968 cases · published 25 June 20262020 Q2: 43,154 cases · published 25 June 20262020 Q3: 51,315 cases · published 25 June 20262020 Q4: 57,058 cases · published 25 June 20262021 Q1: 59,827 cases · published 25 June 20262021 Q2: 60,858 cases · published 25 June 20262021 Q3: 59,936 cases · published 25 June 20262021 Q4: 58,617 cases · published 25 June 20262022 Q1: 58,136 cases · published 25 June 20262022 Q2: 59,445 cases · published 25 June 20262022 Q3: 63,031 cases · published 25 June 20262022 Q4: 62,689 cases · published 25 June 20262023 Q1: 62,011 cases · published 25 June 20262023 Q2: 64,602 cases · published 25 June 20262023 Q3: 66,316 cases · published 25 June 20262023 Q4: 67,116 cases · published 25 June 20262024 Q1: 68,821 cases · published 25 June 20262024 Q2: 70,705 cases · published 25 June 20262024 Q3: 72,675 cases · published 25 June 20262024 Q4: 74,016 cases · published 25 June 20262025 Q1: 76,357 cases · published 25 June 20262025 Q2: 77,816 cases · published 25 June 20262025 Q3: 79,306 cases · published 25 June 20262025 Q4: 80,098 cases · published 25 June 20262026 Q1: 80,061 cases · published 25 June 2026
Published valueProvisional or revisedLatestShaded bands: governments (see labels)Hover or use arrow keys to read a value

Since the current government took office

MetricInheritedLatestChange
Crown Court open cases70,7052024 Q280,0612026 Q1↑ 13.2%

Changes during a government do not by themselves show what it caused. Method.

What these figures don’t measure

Crown Court open cases: Cases waiting at magistrates' courts, how long individual cases have been open, or cases in Scotland and Northern Ireland.