Civometry

Ministry of Justice · Criminal court statistics quarterly

Crown Court open cases

2026 Q1 Final

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.

▲ 4.9% · +3,704 against 2025 Q1 (same quarter previous year)

  1. Ministry of Justice snapshot
  2. 2026 Q1
  3. published 25 June 2026
  4. Table C1
  5. row “2026 Q1”
  6. column “All cases: open”
  7. cell value 80061

The series is near its highest recorded level. Rule: within 5% of the highest value in the 41 periods published here.

2016 Q1 to 2026 Q1

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

Breakdowns

What this measures

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.

What this doesn’t measure

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

Important caveat

Open cases are a stock: the number of criminal cases outstanding at the Crown Court at the end of the quarter, counted from HMCTS case-management systems (XHIBIT and Common Platform). The figure reflects cases received minus cases disposed of, so it rises when receipts outpace disposals regardless of how long individual cases have waited. Figures for recent quarters can be revised in later releases as cases are updated on the systems.

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_C1
Table
Table C1
Row
2026 Q1
Column
All cases: open
Cell value
80061
Geography
England and Wales
Unit
cases
API
/api/metrics/crown_court_open_cases · /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 2024–70,7052024 Q280,0612026 Q1↑ 13.2%
Conservative 2019–202435,4302019 Q370,7052024 Q2↑ 99.6%
Conservative 2017–201941,7062017 Q135,4302019 Q3↓ 15.0%

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)