Britain’s court system is close to standstill with cases languishing for years, forcing victims to undertake prolonged, unnecessary stress and turmoil, awaiting justice and closure. The backlogs are getting worse. There is no plan to change this.

  • Since 2019, the number of cases awaiting trial for a year have increased by over 700%, and those awaiting trial for over two years have multiplied by 10. Consequently, a third of all cases within the court system are over a year old.
  • In 2023 Crown Court cases now take double the time to reach an outcome as they did in 2019 - from an average time of under six months, to an average of almost a year for 2023.
  • This trend is worsening over time. Cases were more delayed in 2022 than in 2019 and cases in 2023 took 30% longer to complete than in 2022.
  • Delays start in police investigations with DNA evidence repeatedly stored in faulty freezes and fridges, damaging evidence and letting the worst criminals run free - the scale of which is not yet known. Police scans of phones or computers have a backlog of 25,000 devices. Because of this, victims have had to wait up to 18 months to have their phone returned.
  • In some instances, delays in cases result in prolific repeat offenders avoiding custodial sentences. One judge called a defendant with 44 previous offences ‘a lucky man’, stating ‘if you had come to court in late 2017, as you should have been, I would have sent you to prison.’ The defendant instead received a 12-month community order
  •  The system is so broken it’s starting to schedule cases for 2028, while victims of serious violence have had to wait six years for sentencing.

These delays are not mere inconveniences. Victims of crimes are forced to suffer twice: once for the horrific crimes they have suffered, and again through the uncertainty and stress inflicted by these delays and the knowledge that delays increase the chances of their attacker walking free.

A study of rape victims found that survivors of sexual offences list delays as their primary concern while awaiting trial. There is an average wait of 839 days from report to completion in court for a rape or serious sexual offence. As a result, victims are suffering significant mental anguish, there have been increased suicide attempts by victims and families are unable to obtain closure from the courts. Consequently, victims have a lack of confidence in the justice system with 5 in 6 women and 4 in 5 men who are raped choosing to not report to the police.

MORE DELAYS, MORE CRIMINALS WALK FREE

Delays also weaken the probability of justice for victims. The longer a delay, the higher the likelihood that victims and witnesses withdraw from the trial, the quality of evidence and testimony weakens, and a greater proportion of defendants plead not guilty. These factors work together: incentive for a guilty defendant to plead not guilty is increased, as the robustness of the evidence against them corrodes, whilst witnesses disappear and victims become overwhelmed with stress.

The last government was useless. In 2021 a government committee was tasked with reducing the backlog. Despite making an “Action Plan” in April 2021, the committee did not even meet for two years, from July 2021 to July 2023. Instead, it undertook a “strategic oversight role”. Between 2021 and 2023, the number of cases in the backlog increased from just over 60,000 to nearly 68,000, and the number of cases waiting at least one year for trial increased by over 50% (from 11,350 to 18,045).

Solutions 

Crown Courts

OPEN THE COURTS: Up to 30% of crown courts are shut on any one day and a third of all trials are delayed on day one. Despite the backlog, the Ministry of Justice has cut the number of days courts can open, ensuring they open fewer days this year than last. This must be reversed immediately. Following this, Crown Courts must be instructed to open every day - even without MoJ restrictions, many courts decided not to open all days of the week (being at the discretion of judges).

Extended Hours Crown Courts: Once it is ensured that all Crown Courts are open Monday through Friday, they can be opened on weekends to crush the backlog. Additionally, the Courts Act s.30 should be immediately amended to the following:

“1. The Lord Chancellor may [after consulting the Lord Chief Justice,] give directions as to the places in England and Wales at which magistrates' and crown courts may sit.

  1. The Lord Chancellor may [after consulting the Lord Chief Justice,] give directions as to the days on which and times at which magistrates' and crown courts may sit.
  2. Subject to any directions under subsection (7), the business of magistrates' and crown courts may be conducted on any day and at any time.”

After which, the government must enact an Additional Crown Courts and Capacity Programme, opening Crown Courts for extended hours. Unsociable pay can be offered to lawyers and judges, and increased covering of expenses for jurors, until the backlog is crushed and rape victims can expect a trial within a reasonable period

Nightingale Crown Courts: In the midst of Covid-19, the government enacted an Additional Courts and Capacity Programme, opening multiple Nightingale courts. These courts acted with incredible speed, with the first jury trial taking place in a Nightingale court within 6 weeks of programme start. When prioritised, the government can act and find capacity. The government must immediately enact an Additional Courts and Capacity Programme to establish greater Crown Court capacity and to crush the backlog.

24/7 Magistrates’ Courts

24/7 magistrates’ courts: enact the Additional Courts Protocol. In response to riots earlier this year, the government almost opened courts 24/7, following their successful use in 2011 during the London Riots. The disgraceful court backlog represents another emergency to victims and society. The government must get serious, use s30 of the Courts Act, and enact another Additional Courts Protocol (as they did in 2011) to crush the backlog. Additionally, first-time non-custodial offences should be prioritised and sentences delivered at speed. Career criminals should be the next priority.

Commit to Enforceable Targets for Maximum Trial Times

Following the Human Rights Act requirements for reasonable times for trials, and similarly to the “No Delay Principle” within the Children’s Act 1989 s1(2) -  victims of the worst crimes should expect “no delay” in treatment from the courts. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms s11 (2) ensures crimes are tried within a reasonable time, with specific time limits set in precedent by the Canadian Supreme Court. Government must commit to ensuring that no rape or other serious violent offence should take beyond 12 months from report to end of trial - save in the most exceptional circumstances and personally approved by the Home Secretary.

 

Publish list of courts acting fastest to crush the backlog. This should not have to fall to grassroot groups. Government must commit to opening their own leaderboard, as they have for the NHS. To encourage compliance, a publicly accessible list of court sitting days, and speed of trials across the country (including anonymised police investigations) should be made available to the public - ensuring that the best courts are rewarded, and the worst are held to public account.

Increase the supply of judges and barristers

The number of Crown Court trials delayed due to a failure for a barrister to be found has increased twenty fold since 2019, and the number of rape trials delayed for this reason has increased ten fold. The majority of prosecutors (64%) said they would not re-register to prosecute such cases, and the majority of defence lawyers (66%) said they no longer wish to be be involved in such cases. 6 in 10 lawyers said they would not do the work due to poor pay. The government should offer all retired judges an opportunity to sit on cases to clear the backlog, and offer tax-free pay for barristers and judges willing to work on Rape and Serious Sexual Offence cases.

Accountability

The Criminal Justice Board Steering Committee (CJB) must explain what they were doing when they did not convene for two years (July 2021 - July 2023). The state of the backlog worsened over this period despite a plan supposedly being implemented to remedy it. In light of this failure, and if our solutions are not adopted, the Government must announce what specific plans they have to combat the growing backlog as a priority.

Taskforce in Number 10

If the Prime Minister is to get serious on crushing crime, the only way to do it in the dysfunctional British state is to create a Taskforce chaired by the PM/Chief of Staff that meets twice a week in No10. It must have the power to shake up teams across Whitehall that cannot deliver and direct a mix of legislative, policy and financial changes including rapid drafting of emergency legislation. Tackling the backlog must become a core priority for the PM’s office, the PM’s PPS, and the PM’s chief of staff.