The Government has today (5th March 2025) announced new investment for the Crown Court as part of its Plan for Change to make streets safer.
The funding will enable courts to sit for a collective 110,000 days in the next financial year and to boost court maintenance and vital repairs.
In our 2023 Breaking Point report, we highlighted how courtrooms were sitting empty due to repairs needing to be carried out - resulting in the loss of hundreds of sitting days across the courts estate. It’s therefore encouraging to see the Government acknowledge and respond to this issue with more funding.
There are, however, many urgent issues causing the backlog in the Crown Court which need to be addressed, such as the shortage of barristers available and willing to take on sexual offence cases. This is evidenced by a multitude of reports and case studies, starting with our own Breaking Point report (published in 2023).
Crown Court backlogs report
Just today, the Public Accounts Committee released its Crown Court backlogs report which made several recommendations, including:
- The Ministry of Justice, working with the judiciary, should try hard to reduce the number of hearings in cases of serious sexual and violent offences that are delayed or postponed on the day scheduled, as it is such circumstances that distress victims the most.
- The Ministry of Justice should continue to protect the additional funding it has secured for victim support, and work with organisations providing support to look for ways to enhance this vital service.
The devastating impact of court delays on victims and survivors has been widely reported, but it is important to reiterate just how traumatising it is for someone who has been subjected to rape or sexual abuse to wait years with uncertainty and stress for their case to be heard. From our research, many survivors felt suicidal, and several had already tried to end their own lives. The situation is urgent.
Ciara Bergman, CEO of Rape Crisis England & Wales comments
We’re pleased that the Government has recognised the dire situation in the Crown Court and committed to investing in infrastructure so that courts are fit for purpose. As we highlighted in our Breaking Point report back in 2023, idle courts have been one of the key issues causing the backlog.
The increase in sitting days is a step in the right direction, and we welcome any measures that will bring about more timely justice for victims and survivors.
We’d now like to see some of the other recommendations from Breaking Point addressed as a matter of urgency:
- The fast-tracking of sexual offence cases.
- Victims and survivors recognised as participants in the court process, rather than just witnesses to a crime.
- The establishment of an independent scrutiny body to oversee the courts, akin to those agencies with oversight of the police and CPS.
- Long-term grants for specialist sexual violence and abuse services that support survivors through the criminal justice system.
As the Government continues to make needed and long-called-for improvements to the justice system, it must not forget the specialist support services that have been propping it up. Every report that has looked at the courts backlog has identified the importance of victims and survivors having access to support – to keep them engaged with the process and help them to navigate through it. Yet there has been no uplift in funding for these services and no proper acknowledgement of the vital role they play.
We eagerly await a commitment from government to fund services, like our Rape Crisis centres, in a way that meets demand. Survivors are depending on it.