Justice in numbers

Access to justice


Court capacity

Crown court disposals

A count of the number of cases only when all the offences have been completed (following a validation process) in the reporting period. Disposals figures in this report may change if the case results are entered after the first collation of the data.

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Period Crown court disposals
Jan - Dec 2014 129,009
Jan - Dec 2015 130,758
Jan - Dec 2016 123,222
Jan - Dec 2017 115,705
Jan - Dec 2018 105,760
Jan - Dec 2019 99,630
Jan - Dec 2020 78,199
Jan - Dec 2021 95,666

Jan - Dec 2021 95,666

Data source Criminal court statistics quarterly

Published: 19 January 2023. Next publication: 30 March 2023 9:30am.


Crown court outstanding

A count of all cases where one or more offence remains incomplete. The data is a snapshot based on outstanding cases on the final day of the reporting period. This is a count of live cases on the system and is not a calculation based on receipts and disposals. Transferred cases may be double counted for a period while they show in both sending and receiving courts; offences subsequently entered in error may change the categorisation of the case.

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Period Crown court outstanding
31 Dec 2014 56,148
31 Dec 2015 51,907
31 Dec 2016 43,380
31 Dec 2017 39,253
31 Dec 2018 33,361
31 Dec 2019 38,371
31 Dec 2020 57,196
31 Dec 2021 58,719

31 Dec 2021 58,719

Data source Criminal court statistics quarterly

Published: 19 January 2023. Next publication: 30 March 2023 9:30am.


Crown courts cracked trials

Cracked trials as a percentage of total trials.

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Period Crown courts cracked trials
Jan - Dec 2007 42%
Jan - Dec 2008 41%
Jan - Dec 2009 42%
Jan - Dec 2010 43%
Jan - Dec 2011 40%
Jan - Dec 2012 37%
Jan - Dec 2013 35%
Jan - Dec 2014 35%
Jan - Dec 2015 35%
Jan - Dec 2016 34%
Jan - Dec 2017 34%
Jan - Dec 2018 35%
Jan - Dec 2019 34%
Jan - Dec 2020 28%
Jan - Dec 2021 29%

Jan - Dec 2021 29%

Data source Criminal court statistics quarterly

Published: 19 January 2023. Next publication: 30 March 2023 9:30am.


Crown courts ineffective trials

Ineffective trials as a percentage of total trials.

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Period Crown courts ineffective trials
Jan - Dec 2007 12%
Jan - Dec 2008 12%
Jan - Dec 2009 13%
Jan - Dec 2010 14%
Jan - Dec 2011 14%
Jan - Dec 2012 14%
Jan - Dec 2013 14%
Jan - Dec 2014 15%
Jan - Dec 2015 15%
Jan - Dec 2016 15%
Jan - Dec 2017 15%
Jan - Dec 2018 14%
Jan - Dec 2019 16%
Jan - Dec 2020 21%
Jan - Dec 2021 23%

Jan - Dec 2021 23%

Data source Criminal court statistics quarterly

Published: 19 January 2023. Next publication: 30 March 2023 9:30am.


Magistrates' courts disposals

A count of the number of cases only when all the offences have been completed (following a validation process) in the reporting period. Disposals figures in this report may change if the case results are entered after the first collation of the data.

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Period Magistrates' courts disposals
Jan - Dec 2012 1,179,639
Jan - Dec 2013 1,556,261
Jan - Dec 2014 1,570,660
Jan - Dec 2015 1,594,051
Jan - Dec 2016 1,566,357
Jan - Dec 2017 1,509,022
Jan - Dec 2018 1,456,735
Jan - Dec 2019 1,441,903
Jan - Dec 2020 1,040,944
Jan - Dec 2021 1,170,253

Jan - Dec 2021 1,170,253

Data source Criminal court statistics quarterly

Published: 19 January 2023. Next publication: 30 March 2023 9:30am.


Employment tribunals disposals

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Period Employment tribunals disposals
Apr 2007 - Mar 2008 81,857
Apr 2008 - Mar 2009 92,018
Apr 2009 - Mar 2010 112,364
Apr 2010 - Mar 2011 122,792
Apr 2011 - Mar 2012 110,769
Apr 2012 - Mar 2013 107,420
Apr 2013 - Mar 2014 148,387
Apr 2014 - Mar 2015 312,773
Apr 2015 - Mar 2016 49,529
Apr 2016 - Mar 2017 45,177
Apr 2017 - Mar 2018 38,671
Apr 2018 - Mar 2019 43,594
Apr 2019 - Mar 2020 50,217
Apr 2020 - Mar 2021 41,622

Apr 2020 - Mar 2021 41,622

Data source Tribunals statistics quarterly

Published: 9 March 2023. Next publication: 08 June 2023 9:30am.


Victim experience

Mean days from receipt at Crown Court to completion

Completion means any outcome, including guilty pleas, acquittals and convictions. Data from the Crown Court timeliness tool (all offences, all cases closed).

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Period Mean days from receipt at Crown Court to completion
Q1 (Jan-Mar) 2014 148
Q2 (Apr-Jun) 2014 154
Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2014 160
Q4 (Oct-Dec) 2014 169
Q1 (Jan-Mar) 2015 171
Q2 (Apr-Jun) 2015 179
Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2015 177
Q4 (Oct-Dec) 2015 181
Q1 (Jan-Mar) 2016 172
Q2 (Apr-Jun) 2016 175
Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2016 169
Q4 (Oct-Dec) 2016 169
Q1 (Jan-Mar) 2017 164
Q2 (Apr-Jun) 2017 160
Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2017 157
Q4 (Oct-Dec) 2017 160
Q1 (Jan-Mar) 2018 157
Q2 (Apr-Jun) 2018 160
Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2018 156
Q4 (Oct-Dec) 2018 157
Q1 (Jan-Mar) 2019 151
Q2 (Apr-Jun) 2019 144
Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2019 140
Q4 (Oct-Dec) 2019 151
Q1 (Jan-Mar) 2020 144
Q2 (Apr-Jun) 2020 142
Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2020 157
Q4 (Oct-Dec) 2020 157
Q1 (Jan-Mar) 2021 177
Q2 (Apr-Jun) 2021 203
Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2021 220
Q4 (Oct-Dec) 2021 233
Q1 (Jan-Mar) 2022 235
Q2 (Apr-Jun) 2022 230
Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2022 224

Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2022 224

Down 5 days from Apr-Jun 2022

Data source Criminal court statistics quarterly

Published: 19 January 2023. Next publication: 30 March 2023 9:30am.


Number of receipts of adult rape cases at the Crown Court

Cases arriving at the Crown Court. Data from the Crown Court cases received, disposed and outstanding tool.

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Period Number of receipts of adult rape cases at the Crown Court
Q1 (Jan-Mar) 2014 520
Q2 (Apr-Jun) 2014 509
Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2014 511
Q4 (Oct-Dec) 2014 537
Q1 (Jan-Mar) 2015 551
Q2 (Apr-Jun) 2015 525
Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2015 550
Q4 (Oct-Dec) 2015 657
Q1 (Jan-Mar) 2016 588
Q2 (Apr-Jun) 2016 555
Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2016 520
Q4 (Oct-Dec) 2016 549
Q1 (Jan-Mar) 2017 507
Q2 (Apr-Jun) 2017 489
Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2017 493
Q4 (Oct-Dec) 2017 405
Q1 (Jan-Mar) 2018 251
Q2 (Apr-Jun) 2018 189
Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2018 211
Q4 (Oct-Dec) 2018 219
Q1 (Jan-Mar) 2019 228
Q2 (Apr-Jun) 2019 225
Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2019 219
Q4 (Oct-Dec) 2019 250
Q1 (Jan-Mar) 2020 264
Q2 (Apr-Jun) 2020 199
Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2020 306
Q4 (Oct-Dec) 2020 306
Q1 (Jan-Mar) 2021 312
Q2 (Apr-Jun) 2021 347
Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2021 331
Q4 (Oct-Dec) 2021 322
Q1 (Jan-Mar) 2022 434
Q2 (Apr-Jun) 2022 453
Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2022 467

Q3 (Jul-Sep) 2022 467

Up 14 from Apr-Jun 2022

Data source Criminal court statistics quarterly

Published: 19 January 2023. Next publication: 30 March 2023 9:30am.


Civil courts - total judgments

Total number of judgments in the county courts. Some civil cases are resolved via mediation or settled out of court and don't proceed to a judgement.

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Period Civil courts - total judgments
Jan - Dec 2009 982,464
Jan - Dec 2010 794,311
Jan - Dec 2011 748,586
Jan - Dec 2012 663,457
Jan - Dec 2013 667,168
Jan - Dec 2014 831,541
Jan - Dec 2015 867,665
Jan - Dec 2016 1,055,035
Jan - Dec 2017 1,284,364
Jan - Dec 2018 1,291,142
Jan - Dec 2019 1,323,750
Jan - Dec 2020 727,438
Jan - Dec 2021 980,474
Jan - Dec 2022 900,606

Jan - Dec 2022 900,606

Data source Civil justice statistics (quarterly)

Published: 2 March 2023. Next publication: 01 June 2023 9:30am.


Family court - total cases disposed

Total cases disposed at family court.

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Period Family court - total cases disposed
Jan 2011 to Dec 2011 233,824
Jan 2012 to Dec 2012 235,054
Jan 2013 to Dec 2013 240,968
Jan 2014 to Dec 2014 248,930
Jan 2015 to Dec 2015 221,668
Jan 2016 to Dec 2016 229,028
Jan 2017 to Dec 2017 227,067
Jan 2018 to Dec 2018 214,593
Jan 2019 to Dec 2019 234,469
Jan 2020 to Dec 2020 226,097
Jan 2021 to Dec 2021 249,985

Jan 2021 to Dec 2021 249,985

Data source Family court statistics quarterly

Published: 15 December 2022. Next publication: 30 March 2023 9:30am.


Tribunals disposals - overall

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Period Tribunals disposals - overall
Apr 2007 - Mar 2008 550,148
Apr 2008 - Mar 2009 568,671
Apr 2009 - Mar 2010 649,920
Apr 2010 - Mar 2011 726,939
Apr 2011 - Mar 2012 748,820
Apr 2012 - Mar 2013 749,283
Apr 2013 - Mar 2014 878,007
Apr 2014 - Mar 2015 649,068
Apr 2015 - Mar 2016 372,926
Apr 2016 - Mar 2017 394,102
Apr 2017 - Mar 2018 407,638
Apr 2018 - Mar 2019 400,816
Apr 2019 - Mar 2020 378,629
Apr 2020 - Mar 2021 265,628

Apr 2020 - Mar 2021 265,628

Data source Tribunals statistics quarterly

Published: 9 March 2023. Next publication: 08 June 2023 9:30am.


The closed-claim measure of expenditure shows the total value of payments made to legal aid providers in relation to pieces of work that are completed in each period, even where a portion of the work may have taken place over previous periods. Most expenditure figures in the legal aid statistics are shown on this basis.

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