The Ministry of Justice published its quarterly criminal courts statistics and legal aid statistics for January-March 2021 last week. Trials are now being scheduled for 2023.
Outstanding Crown Court cases are up 45% on last year and magistrates’ court cases up 21%.
Chair of the Bar Council, Derek Sweeting QC, said: ‘In the recent Rape Review the government committed to significant increases in the number of cases that will be brought to court.
‘Greater numbers of police officers will only increase these pressures in the coming years.’
The Law Society also expressed fears about criminal practitioners’ livelihoods – Crown Court legal aid expenditure was down 28%. Law Society president I Stephanie Boyce said: ‘This demonstrates the scale of the financial impact on hard-pressed legal aid practitioners. We fear many will be unable to survive for long after furlough ends unless something major changes very quickly.’
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