Crown Court open cases: record highs and lows
The extremes of crown court open cases as published by Ministry of Justice, across the 41 periods held here (2016 Q1 to 2026 Q1). Each record is a published figure, not a computed one, and the scope is this series — not “ever”.
Highest published
80,0982025 Q4
Lowest published
33,0492018 Q4
The full series
The chart as a table
| Period | Crown Court open cases |
|---|---|
| 2016 Q1 | 48,255 cases |
| 2016 Q2 | 44,858 cases |
| 2016 Q3 | 43,461 cases |
| 2016 Q4 | 43,110 cases |
| 2017 Q1 | 41,706 cases |
| 2017 Q2 | 41,105 cases |
| 2017 Q3 | 40,200 cases |
| 2017 Q4 | 38,980 cases |
| 2018 Q1 | 36,840 cases |
| 2018 Q2 | 35,633 cases |
| 2018 Q3 | 34,637 cases |
| 2018 Q4 | 33,049 cases |
| 2019 Q1 | 33,118 cases |
| 2019 Q2 | 34,232 cases |
| 2019 Q3 | 35,430 cases |
| 2019 Q4 | 38,123 cases |
| 2020 Q1 | 40,968 cases |
| 2020 Q2 | 43,154 cases |
| 2020 Q3 | 51,315 cases |
| 2020 Q4 | 57,058 cases |
| 2021 Q1 | 59,827 cases |
| 2021 Q2 | 60,858 cases |
| 2021 Q3 | 59,936 cases |
| 2021 Q4 | 58,617 cases |
| 2022 Q1 | 58,136 cases |
| 2022 Q2 | 59,445 cases |
| 2022 Q3 | 63,031 cases |
| 2022 Q4 | 62,689 cases |
| 2023 Q1 | 62,011 cases |
| 2023 Q2 | 64,602 cases |
| 2023 Q3 | 66,316 cases |
| 2023 Q4 | 67,116 cases |
| 2024 Q1 | 68,821 cases |
| 2024 Q2 | 70,705 cases |
| 2024 Q3 | 72,675 cases |
| 2024 Q4 | 74,016 cases |
| 2025 Q1 | 76,357 cases |
| 2025 Q2 | 77,816 cases |
| 2025 Q3 | 79,306 cases |
| 2025 Q4 | 80,098 cases |
| 2026 Q1 | 80,061 cases |
What a record here is, and is not
A record is the extreme of the periods this site holds for the current series, at each period’s newest published release. Earlier series measured under different methods are not compared against it. Money is in cash terms: a record set years ago stands against the money of its own year.