Civometry

Ministry of Justice · plea: Dropped

Crown Court median waiting time for trial: Dropped

4 periods to 2026 Q1

85 weeks

Crown Court median waiting time for trial for Dropped totalled 85 weeks in the 4 periods to 2026 Q1, up 3.3% (3) on the 4 periods before.

  1. Ministry of Justice dataset
  2. Table_C7
  3. 2026 Q1
  4. column “Dropped: Median [note 25]”
  5. 22.2857142857143 per period
  6. published 25 June 2026

2016 Q1 to 2026 Q1

Crown Court median waiting time for trial by plea: 2016 Q1 to 2026 Q1ConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeConservativeLabourLabour01020302016201820202022202420262016 Q1: 24 weeks · published 25 June 20262016 Q2: 24 weeks · published 25 June 20262016 Q3: 24 weeks · published 25 June 20262016 Q4: 23 weeks · published 25 June 20262017 Q1: 22 weeks · published 25 June 20262017 Q2: 22 weeks · published 25 June 20262017 Q3: 22 weeks · published 25 June 20262017 Q4: 22 weeks · published 25 June 20262018 Q1: 23 weeks · published 25 June 20262018 Q2: 22 weeks · published 25 June 20262018 Q3: 22 weeks · published 25 June 20262018 Q4: 21 weeks · published 25 June 20262019 Q1: 21 weeks · published 25 June 20262019 Q2: 21 weeks · published 25 June 20262019 Q3: 20 weeks · published 25 June 20262019 Q4: 21 weeks · published 25 June 20262020 Q1: 21 weeks · published 25 June 20262020 Q2: 22 weeks · published 25 June 20262020 Q3: 25 weeks · published 25 June 20262020 Q4: 21 weeks · published 25 June 20262021 Q1: 23 weeks · published 25 June 20262021 Q2: 26 weeks · published 25 June 20262021 Q3: 28 weeks · published 25 June 20262021 Q4: 31 weeks · published 25 June 20262022 Q1: 31 weeks · published 25 June 20262022 Q2: 27 weeks · published 25 June 20262022 Q3: 24 weeks · published 25 June 20262022 Q4: 25 weeks · published 25 June 20262023 Q1: 26 weeks · published 25 June 20262023 Q2: 24 weeks · published 25 June 20262023 Q3: 22 weeks · published 25 June 20262023 Q4: 20 weeks · published 25 June 20262024 Q1: 20 weeks · published 25 June 20262024 Q2: 21 weeks · published 25 June 20262024 Q3: 21 weeks · published 25 June 20262024 Q4: 21 weeks · published 25 June 20262025 Q1: 20 weeks · published 25 June 20262025 Q2: 20 weeks · published 25 June 20262025 Q3: 21 weeks · published 25 June 20262025 Q4: 22 weeks · published 25 June 20262026 Q1: 22 weeks · published 25 June 2026
Published valueProvisional or revisedLatestShaded bands: governments (see labels)Hover, tap or use arrow keys to read a value; tap again to unpin
The chart as a table
PeriodCrown Court median waiting time for trial by plea
2016 Q124 weeks
2016 Q224 weeks
2016 Q324 weeks
2016 Q423 weeks
2017 Q122 weeks
2017 Q222 weeks
2017 Q322 weeks
2017 Q422 weeks
2018 Q123 weeks
2018 Q222 weeks
2018 Q322 weeks
2018 Q421 weeks
2019 Q121 weeks
2019 Q221 weeks
2019 Q320 weeks
2019 Q421 weeks
2020 Q121 weeks
2020 Q222 weeks
2020 Q325 weeks
2020 Q421 weeks
2021 Q123 weeks
2021 Q226 weeks
2021 Q328 weeks
2021 Q431 weeks
2022 Q131 weeks
2022 Q227 weeks
2022 Q324 weeks
2022 Q425 weeks
2023 Q126 weeks
2023 Q224 weeks
2023 Q322 weeks
2023 Q420 weeks
2024 Q120 weeks
2024 Q221 weeks
2024 Q321 weeks
2024 Q421 weeks
2025 Q120 weeks
2025 Q220 weeks
2025 Q321 weeks
2025 Q422 weeks
2026 Q122 weeks

What this measures

The median weeks defendants sent for trial waited before their trial started, split by how the case resolved — guilty plea, not guilty (a contested trial), dropped, or other. Contested trials wait far longer than cases that end in a guilty plea.

The plea entered at the start (the split is by final outcome), or waits for cases still open.

Source

Dataset
Criminal court statistics quarterly: Crown Court waiting times
Release
January to March 2026, published 25 June 2026 · sha256 b6823b9b68923d70…
All values
Crown Court median waiting time for trial by plea