SCTS News

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service has published today the latest monthly workbook to show the throughput of criminal cases in our courts.  

Monthly Workbook

This shows the volumes of cases being progressed each month in the High Court, Sheriff Court and Justice of the Peace Courts from April 2020, compared against the monthly averages for 2019/20 (pre-COVID).

The figures show that during February 2023:

• The overall level of new cases registered is 78% of the average pre-COVID level.
• The overall level of cases concluded is 95% of the average pre-COVID level.
• Petitions, which provide a useful indicator of future solemn business, are 34% higher than the average monthly pre-COVID level.
• 53 High Court evidence led trials commenced which is 128% of the average pre-COVID level.
• 66 High Court cases were concluded, which is 98% of the average pre-COVID level.
• The average time between pleading diet and evidence led trial is 53 weeks for High Court, compared to the pre-COVID level of 22 weeks.
• 103 sheriff solemn evidence led trials commenced which is 109% of the average pre-COVID level.
• 483 sheriff solemn cases were concluded which is 112% of the average pre-COVID level.
• The average time between pleading diet and evidence led trial is 43 weeks for sheriff solemn, compared to the pre-COVID level of 11 weeks.
• 592 sheriff summary evidence led trials commenced, which is 102% of the average pre-COVID levels
• 5218 sheriff summary cases were concluded which is 109% of the average pre-COVID level.
• The average time between pleading diet and evidence led trial is 44 weeks for sheriff summary, compared to the pre-COVID level of 23 weeks.
• 1629 Justice of the Peace cases were concluded which is 64% of the average pre-COVID level.
• The average time between pleading diet and evidence led trial is 46 weeks for Justice of the Peace, compared to the pre-COVID level of 22 weeks.

David Fraser, SCTS Executive Director Court Operations said:

“The overall number of scheduled trials has now reduced by 36% since the peak of 43,606 in January 2022, representing a 66% reduction in the trials backlog that accrued during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

“Through the court recovery programme we are aiming to return to a point where the number of scheduled cases being prepared for trial is around 20,000. Given the initial focus on summary trials we remain confident that summary backlog will be cleared by March 2024. 

 "It is therefore right to switch court recovery resources from summary to solemn and plans are now in place to introduce a further 2 additional High Court and 6 additional Sheriff Solemn trial courts from April 2023. Solemn cases, which involves the most serious crimes, are more challenging as the long term trend of increasing case levels continued throughout the pandemic. Our modelling projects that High Court cases will return to the revised baseline by March 2025 and Sheriff Solemn cases by March 2026.

"Strong collaboration across the judiciary, justice organisations, the legal profession and the third sector is helping to effectively manage court business, this will become even more important as the solemn recovery programme extends.

"The monthly publication on throughput of cases, combined with the revised modelling reports, illustrate the progress being made and the challenges still ahead.”