A line chart from the Institute for Government showing outstanding cases in magistrates’ courts, Q1 2019 to Q2 2025. The number of outstanding cases remained around 220,000 until early 2020, then rose sharply to just over 345,000 in mid-2020. After fluctuating between 240,000 and 300,000 from late 2020 to 2023, the backlog began to rise steadily again, reaching roughly 361,000 cases by mid-2025.