How long justice takes
Days from offence to charge to completion, England and Wales. Official MoJ timeliness figures for cases that finished in Apr–Jun 2026, with your area below.
courtday.uk
365 days
Crown Court cases: median offence to completion, Apr–Jun 2026
+33 days vs Apr–Jun 2025 (332)
Source: MoJ Criminal court statistics quarterly, Apr–Jun 2026 (released 24 Sep 2026) · Table T4
courtday.uk
100 days
Crown Court: median wait from being sent to the Crown Court to the main hearing
Mean 210 days: a minority of cases wait far longer
Source: MoJ Criminal court statistics quarterly, Apr–Jun 2026 (released 24 Sep 2026) · Table T4
courtday.uk
194 days
All magistrates' cases: median offence to completion, Apr–Jun 2026
332,877 defendants' cases completed
Source: MoJ Criminal court statistics quarterly, Apr–Jun 2026 (released 24 Sep 2026) · Table T2
Crown Court cases, by stage (Apr–Jun 2026)
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| Stage | Median days | Mean days | Median a year earlier | Change (days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offence to charge | 88 | 439 | 69 | +19 |
| Charge to first hearing | 1 | 18 | 1 | +0 |
| Sent to Crown Court to main hearing | 100 | 210 | 85 | +15 |
| Main hearing to completion | 25 | 62 | 24 | +1 |
| Offence to completion | 365 | 742 | 332 | +33 |
Source: MoJ Criminal court statistics quarterly, Apr–Jun 2026 (released 24 Sep 2026) · Table T4 · 30,988 defendants' cases completed. Median = half took longer. Mean is pulled up by a few very long cases.
Magistrates' courts, by stage (Apr–Jun 2026)
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| Stage | Median days | Mean days | Median a year earlier | Change (days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offence to charge | 141 | 156 | 139 | +2 |
| Charge to first hearing | 38 | 54 | 34 | +4 |
| First hearing to completion | 0 | 27 | 0 | +0 |
| Offence to completion | 194 | 238 | 189 | +5 |
Source: MoJ Criminal court statistics quarterly, Apr–Jun 2026 (released 24 Sep 2026) · Table T2 · all criminal cases, including those sent to the Crown Court (their magistrates' stage ends when they are sent).
Trend: median days, offence to completion (Apr–Jun each year)
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| Quarter | Crown Court | Magistrates' courts |
|---|---|---|
| Apr–Jun 2019 | 253 | 158 |
| Apr–Jun 2020 | 210 | 193 |
| Apr–Jun 2021 | 378 | 200 |
| Apr–Jun 2022 | 384 | 187 |
| Apr–Jun 2023 | 382 | 183 |
| Apr–Jun 2024 | 334 | 183 |
| Apr–Jun 2025 | 332 | 189 |
| Apr–Jun 2026 | 365 | 194 |
Source: MoJ Criminal court statistics quarterly, Apr–Jun 2026 (released 24 Sep 2026) · Tables T2 and T4
By area
MoJ publishes waiting times for each local criminal justice area (in most places the same as the police force area), not for each courtroom. Sorted by the longest Crown Court wait.
Tap the chart for a share image ↗ · figures in the table below
Not published (suppressed or caveated, not charted): Dyfed Powys, East London, Gwent, North London, South London
| Area (local criminal justice area) | Crown Court: receipt to completion, 2025 | Same, 2024 | Magistrates: charge to completion, 2025 | Crown Court: median age of open cases, Jun 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central London | 266 | 298 | 42 | 284 |
| North East London | 205 | 200 | 38 | 293 |
| Kent | 203 | 180 | 50 | 265 |
| Suffolk | 202 | 198 | 69 | 215 |
| Bedfordshire | 198 | 162 | 51 | 243 |
| Norfolk | 195 | 182 | 69 | 209 |
| West Mercia | 188 | 169 | 43 | 288 |
| Surrey | 186 | 188 | 53 | 250 |
| Essex | 184 | 178 | 58 | 230 |
| Nottinghamshire | 181 | 192 | 32 | 214 |
| Staffordshire | 181 | 165 | 35 | 225 |
| Dorset | 180 | 140 | 62 | 175 |
| South East London | 179 | 195 | 55 | 267 |
| North West London | 174 | 174 | 41 | 236 |
| West Midlands | 173 | 171 | 51 | 220 |
| Greater Manchester | 172 | 156 | 62 | 218 |
| Hertfordshire | 166 | 228 | 40 | 208 |
| Northumbria | 165 | 163 | 55 | 202 |
| Thames Valley | 165 | 157 | 43 | 214 |
| South Yorkshire | 163 | 119 | 46 | 149 |
| Lancashire | 157 | 131 | 60 | 124 |
| Cheshire | 156 | 128 | 38 | 152 |
| Northamptonshire | 153 | 148 | 29 | 194 |
| Durham | 150 | 108 | 45 | 169 |
| South West London | 148 | 161 | 55 | 224 |
| Avon and Somerset | 147 | 125 | 59 | 155 |
| Leicestershire | 147 | 144 | 31 | 218 |
| West Yorkshire | 147 | 147 | 42 | 209 |
| Cleveland | 146 | 117 | 39 | 204 |
| Cambridgeshire | 145 | 139 | 55 | 154 |
| Wiltshire | 140 | 152 | 44 | 195 |
| Derbyshire | 140 | 134 | 26 | 208 |
| Lincolnshire | 139 | 154 | 22 | 116 |
| Warwickshire | 136 | 119 | 34 | 174 |
| Gloucestershire | 135 | 150 | 49 | 256 |
| Humberside | 134 | 107 | 56 | 96 |
| Hampshire and Isle of Wight | 133 | 115 | 70 | 125 |
| North Yorkshire | 132 | 125 | 37 | 140 |
| South Wales | 123 | 99 | 41 | 151 |
| Devon and Cornwall | 118 | 96 | 46 | 158 |
| Sussex | 116 | 93 | 43 | 190 |
| Cumbria | 106 | 87 | 33 | 132 |
| North Wales | 102 | 86 | 45 | 132 |
| Merseyside | 95 | 77 | 53 | 102 |
| Dyfed Powys | – | – | 34 | – |
| East London | – | – | 38 | – |
| Gwent | – | – | 43 | – |
| North London | – | – | 36 | – |
| South London | – | – | 40 | – |
Source: MoJ Criminal court statistics quarterly, Apr–Jun 2026 (released 24 Sep 2026) · Data tools: cc_timeliness, mags_timeliness and cc_os_average (median days). – = not published for that area.
What the stages mean: charge · first hearing · sent to the Crown Court · how a case works.
