Central estimate of court workload under proposals to keep more cases in magistrates' courts, with no judge-alone trials, by case type, 2026/27
A table from the Institute for Government showing “High-impact estimate of court workload with reforms, by case type, 2026/27,” where all Crown Court trials total 10,500 cases with an average of 19 hearing hours. Indictable-only jury trials account for 7,500 cases averaging 22 hours, while triable-either-way jury trials drop to 1,000 cases averaging 14 hours, and new judge-alone trials add 2,000 cases averaging 8 hours. Trials moved to magistrates’ courts total 4,500 cases averaging 3 hours, and the total estimated workload is forecast to be 120,802 sitting days.
