South East: court backlogs and waiting times
Crown Courts in South East had 15,368 cases waiting at the end of June 2026, compared with 5,965 in June 2019, before the pandemic. That is 2.6 times as many.
Magistrates' courts in the region had 40,147 cases waiting, excluding cases dealt with on paper under the Single Justice Procedure, against 24,900 in June 2019.
For Crown Court cases finished in April to June 2026, the typical (median) time from the offence to the end of the case was 418 days, against 365 days for England and Wales.
See every region in the interactive charts
Cases waiting at the end of June each year
Open cases. Regional magistrates' court figures start in 2019 and exclude Single Justice Procedure cases.
| June | Crown Court | Magistrates' courts | Crown Court typical days, offence to end | Crown Court typical days, arrival to end |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 8,577 | Not published | 281 | 147 |
| 2017 | 7,731 | Not published | 252 | 111 |
| 2018 | 6,757 | Not published | 258 | 125 |
| 2019 | 5,965 | 24,900 | 280 | 99 |
| 2020 | 8,409 | 42,945 | 238 | 110 |
| 2021 | 11,971 | 28,101 | 409 | 138 |
| 2022 | 12,071 | 25,214 | 425 | 160 |
| 2023 | 13,876 | 28,772 | 441 | 185 |
| 2024 | 15,880 | 32,491 | 370 | 166 |
| 2025 | 16,245 | 33,845 | 391 | 177 |
| 2026 | 15,368 | 40,147 | 418 | 175 |
Crown Court cases arriving and finished each year
Calendar years. When more cases arrive than finish, the backlog grows.
| Year | Cases arriving | Cases finished | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 19,211 | 20,711 | -1,500 |
| 2017 | 20,024 | 20,567 | -543 |
| 2018 | 17,317 | 18,684 | -1,367 |
| 2019 | 18,000 | 16,581 | +1,419 |
| 2020 | 17,695 | 13,911 | +3,784 |
| 2021 | 17,804 | 16,878 | +926 |
| 2022 | 17,481 | 15,921 | +1,560 |
| 2023 | 20,395 | 18,457 | +1,938 |
| 2024 | 22,914 | 21,478 | +1,436 |
| 2025 | 21,957 | 21,884 | +73 |
Where these figures come from
Ministry of Justice, Criminal court statistics and the Crown Court timeliness data tool. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is an independent site, not produced or endorsed by the UK Government.