Civometry

Ministry of Justice · Criminal court statistics quarterly

Crown Court median days from offence to completion

2026 Q1 Final

346days

Crown Court median days from offence to completion was 346 days in 2026 Q1, up 6.1% (20) from 326 in 2025 Q1.

▲ 6.1% · +20 against 2025 Q1 (same quarter previous year)

  1. Ministry of Justice estimate
  2. 2026 Q1
  3. published 25 June 2026
  4. Table T4
  5. row “2026 Q1”
  6. column “All criminal cases dealt with in the Crown Court: All - Offence to completion (Median) [note 54]”
  7. cell value 346

The series is rising. Rule: up 6.1% from 2025 Q1 to 2026 Q1.

2016 Q1 to 2026 Q1

Crown Court median days from offence to completion: 2016 Q1 to 2026 Q1ConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeLabourLabour02004002016201820202022202420262016 Q1: 243 days · published 25 June 20262016 Q2: 260 days · published 25 June 20262016 Q3: 261 days · published 25 June 20262016 Q4: 249 days · published 25 June 20262017 Q1: 236 days · published 25 June 20262017 Q2: 235 days · published 25 June 20262017 Q3: 231 days · published 25 June 20262017 Q4: 229 days · published 25 June 20262018 Q1: 233 days · published 25 June 20262018 Q2: 244 days · published 25 June 20262018 Q3: 229 days · published 25 June 20262018 Q4: 233 days · published 25 June 20262019 Q1: 242 days · published 25 June 20262019 Q2: 253 days · published 25 June 20262019 Q3: 252 days · published 25 June 20262019 Q4: 254 days · published 25 June 20262020 Q1: 252 days · published 25 June 20262020 Q2: 210 days · published 25 June 20262020 Q3: 281 days · published 25 June 20262020 Q4: 318 days · published 25 June 20262021 Q1: 352 days · published 25 June 20262021 Q2: 377 days · published 25 June 20262021 Q3: 397 days · published 25 June 20262021 Q4: 401 days · published 25 June 20262022 Q1: 405 days · published 25 June 20262022 Q2: 384 days · published 25 June 20262022 Q3: 359 days · published 25 June 20262022 Q4: 379 days · published 25 June 20262023 Q1: 397 days · published 25 June 20262023 Q2: 382 days · published 25 June 20262023 Q3: 356 days · published 25 June 20262023 Q4: 333 days · published 25 June 20262024 Q1: 340 days · published 25 June 20262024 Q2: 334 days · published 25 June 20262024 Q3: 327 days · published 25 June 20262024 Q4: 313 days · published 25 June 20262025 Q1: 326 days · published 25 June 20262025 Q2: 333 days · published 25 June 20262025 Q3: 344 days · published 25 June 20262025 Q4: 345 days · published 25 June 20262026 Q1: 346 days · published 25 June 2026
Published valueProvisional or revisedLatestShaded bands: governments (see labels)Hover or use arrow keys to read a value

What this measures

The median number of days from the offence to the completion of the case at the Crown Court, for defendants whose cases completed in the quarter and could be matched from first appearance at a magistrates' court through to completion.

What this doesn’t measure

Time spent waiting at the Crown Court alone (the measure includes time before charge and at the magistrates' court), the mean, or cases that could not be matched across court systems (typically 5 to 10 per cent).

Important caveat

Timeliness is measured for defendants whose cases completed in the quarter and could be matched from first appearance at a magistrates' court to completion in the Crown Court using probabilistic record linkage; the match rate is typically 90 to 95 per cent and unmatched cases are excluded. One offence is counted per defendant. The median is the 50th percentile of the number of days from offence to completion and includes time before charge and at the magistrates' court, not only time at the Crown Court. Cases with data quality issues, breaches and appeals are excluded.

Revision history

No period of this series has been revised since it was first ingested here. Revisions are recorded automatically when a later release publishes a different figure for the same period.

Source

Publisher
Ministry of Justice
Publication
Criminal court statistics quarterly
Release
January to March 2026, published 25 June 2026
Source file
ccsq_2026Q1.ods
File SHA-256
b6823b9b68923d7039050194eb303b8fc1a1071f5f6a555585d15cf21146dd40
Retrieved
2 September 2026
Sheet
Table_T4
Table
Table T4
Row
2026 Q1
Column
All criminal cases dealt with in the Crown Court: All - Offence to completion (Median) [note 54]
Cell value
346
Geography
England and Wales
Unit
days
API
/api/metrics/crown_court_median_days · /series · /vintages

Related metrics

Government periods

Change during each government, from the level inherited to the last complete period before it left office. Describes the period; does not attribute cause.

Labour 2024–3342024 Q23462026 Q1↑ 3.6%
Conservative 2019–20242522019 Q33342024 Q2↑ 32.5%
Conservative 2017–20192362017 Q12522019 Q3↑ 6.8%

Full comparison with chart

Release
January to March 2026 · publication page
Last updated
25 June 2026
Next release expected
September 2026 (estimated from the usual cadence)