Ministry of Justice (MoJ) quarterly statistics published last week show the magistrates’ court backlog reached 380,230 cases at the end of June 2026, an increase of 9% year-on-year. The Bar Council highlighted that shifting more cases to the magistrates’ courts—as proposed by the Courts and Tribunals Bill, due to return to the Commons for its report stage and third reading in October—could cause further delay.
The Bill, put forward by former Lord Chancellor David Lammy during Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership, would end jury trials in cases where the potential sentence was three years or less in prison, scrap juries for fraud trials and route more trials through the magistrates’ courts. However, the current Lord Chancellor Alex Norris has not said whether he will continue with the reforms or abandon them.
Responding to the latest figures last week, courts minister Sarah Sackman said: ‘These record-breaking figures lay bare the scale of the challenge facing our courts.’ She did not explicitly refer to the proposed jury reforms. Neither was there any mention of jury reforms in an accompanying MoJ release outlining steps being taken to reduce the backlog.
The Crown Court backlog currently stands at 80,829 cases, a 3% increase on the previous year. Almost 24,000 of these have been waiting a year or more, of which more than 12,000 are for violent or sexual offences including more than 2,400 rape cases.
Law Society president Mark Evans said: ‘The government must seize the chance to deliver a long-term, whole-system plan for criminal justice reform. This should include usable courts, enough judges and staff and the maximum number of sitting days to hear cases promptly.’
