Target to cut court backlog cannot be met, says watchdog

The authorities’s goal to scale back unprecedented legal court backlogs in England and Wales cannot be met, the nationwide spending watchdog has concluded.

The National Audit Office (NAO) says the delays are affecting victims and risking circumstances collapsing.

It reveals {that a} key minister-led physique that ought to have been concerned in fixing the disaster didn’t meet as soon as in a two-year interval.

There are 67,573 circumstances ready to be handled in Crown Courts – a backlog that started earlier than the pandemic.

The variety of circumstances quickly shot up when courts have been closed underneath social distancing – and the backlog worsened as attorneys give up or went on strike in a serious pay dispute.

In October 2021, ministers set a goal to scale back the backlog to 53,000 by March 2025, hoping that additional spending on judges and momentary courtrooms would work.

But the NAO says the backlog has acquired bigger, which means the goal is not achievable.

Officials now undertaking the backlog may scale back to 64,000 by March 2025, however there isn’t a formal goal.

1 / 4 of the circumstances have now been ready for a minimum of a yr to attain a verdict, and greater than 6,500 for 2 years.

Victims wait on common 22 months from an offence for a verdict in a Crown Court.

“Delays are exacerbating the impact on victims and witnesses, as well as increasing the risk of cases collapsing,” mentioned the NAO.

“Longer delays mean victims and witnesses may withdraw from proceedings, or their recollection of evidence declines over time. It can also impact victims’ mental wellbeing, and that of defendants awaiting trial.”

The report reveals that the Criminal Justice Board, a physique chaired by the justice secretary aimed toward fixing issues throughout the system, didn’t meet in any respect between July 2021 and July 2023.

During that two-year interval, there have been 4 completely different justice secretaries, with Dominic Raab in put up for 18 of these months.

That lack of conferences, mentioned the NAO, “reduced oversight of action to help the justice system recover from the pandemic”.

The report comes because the Ministry of Justice, police and the courts try to scale back the variety of offenders within the jail system amid an overcrowding disaster.

One scheme is permitting some offenders out of jail up to 70 days earlier than the tip of their sentence – whereas one other is making an attempt to decelerate the speed of newly accused criminals moving into.

Officials instructed the NAO that the jail overcrowding disaster was probably the most urgent drawback in lowering the Crown Court backlog, as a result of there have been now 16,000 folks in cells ready for a trial or to be sentenced after being discovered responsible – a 50-year report.

The watchdog’s verdict will verify the view of many throughout legal justice that the system is in disaster with no clear resolution, whoever wins the final election.

Tana Adkin KC, who chairs the Criminal Bar Association which represents barristers, mentioned: “The NAO report confirms that which criminal practitioners have known for years – that the system remains in crisis without a plan for sustained investment, despite the repeated warnings.”

The NAO’s report was scheduled for publication earlier than the final election was known as on Wednesday.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson mentioned: “The Crown Court sat for over 107,000 days last year, more days than at any point in the last seven years.

“We are also investing more in the system, rolling out remote hearings, extending the use of Nightingale courts and recruiting hundreds of judges to get victims the justice they deserve, and put more offenders behind bars.”