Criminal court delays remain high denying people in Hull timely justice

News

New analysis by the Law Society of England and Wales about the time it takes to process criminal cases in Hull shows that court delays remain high affecting communities across the region*. The UK government must implement a broad package of measures and provide sustained investment in the justice system to repair this vital public service that we all rely on.

The pre-pandemic average time from offence to case completion in the criminal courts (2016-2019) was 535 days in Humberside**. These delays affect every stage of the justice process and contribute to undue stress and uncertainty for those involved.

Delays dropped in 2020 but continued to grow in 2021. In the years that followed, the average duration settled closer to pre pandemic levels at 502 days (2023 and 2024). According to recent 2025 data, in quarter one, the average number of days from offence to case completion was 514 and in quarter two 453***. Despite some improvement, delays in Humberside remain more than a year, leaving victims, witnesses and defendants waiting too long for cases to conclude.

But it is not just about the delays. The court infrastructure is an issue too. According to a solicitor at Hull Crown Court in May 2025: “We are all now crammed into one tiny room that does not have enough desks or power sockets. It’s also floor to ceiling windows, so boiling hot in the sun but freezing cold when the sun isn’t shining because the heating doesn’t work either. You wouldn’t expect defendants in cells to put up with this but sadly counsel and solicitors are expected to just put up with it****.”

Mark Evans, president of the Law Society, is visiting Hull on 26 March to discuss the findings and hear directly from solicitors about the challenges and opportunities facing the profession today.

He said: “While it is encouraging to see delays in Humberside criminal courts dropping following a spike just after the pandemic, cases are still taking too long to conclude. Delays longer than a year leave victims, witnesses and defendants in limbo and continue to undermine confidence in the justice system, which is a crucial public service.

“Local legal communities and high street law firms play a vital role in keeping the system moving. But they cannot do this alone. The government must provide sustained investment in Hull’s courts, including court staff and legal advisors to ensure that there is proper access to justice for everyone.”

Notes to editors

* Timeliness measures reported here are mean average days across all closed cases heard in the magistrates and Crown Courts, from offence to completion. Timeliness at the magistrates’ courts measures the time from an offence being committed through key stages of the criminal justice system including charge or laying of the information, first listing and the subsequent completion of a defendant’s case at the magistrates’ court.

End-to-end timeliness at the Crown Court measures the time from an offence being committed through key stages of the criminal justice system including charge, passage through the magistrates’ courts and subsequent completion of a defendant’s case.

The estimates are created by linking magistrates’ courts and Crown Court data outputs to create an ‘end-to-end’ defendant journey across key stages of the criminal justice system. More information can be found here: Criminal court statistics quarterly: July to September 2025 - GOV.UK

**The Law Society of England and Wales carried out new analysis of publicly available data that can be found in the criminal court statistics quarterly and the CJS Dashboard. Further data, including median figures, can be found here.

• 2016: 629 days
• 2017: 580 days
• 2018: 515 days
• 2019: 416 days
• 2020: 382 days
• 2021: 521 days
• 2022: 457 days
• 2023: 508 days
• 2024: 496 days

***The 453 days from offence to completion included an overall duration of 188 days for cases in the Crown Courts and 21 days in the Magistrates’ Court in Humberside.

****Read our  2025 state of the courts report.

Read the Law Society’s response to Brian Leveson’s independent review of the criminal courts.

The Law Society president Mark Evans is meeting various members, stakeholders and aspiring solicitors in Hull on 26 March 2026. If you would like to arrange an interview, please get in touch.