Foreword
By the Director of Public Prosecutions
I am pleased to present the Annual Report and Accounts for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for the 2022-23 financial year. This report covers the third year of reporting against objectives set out in our CPS 2025 strategy and organises achievements under our five strategic aims – our people, digital capability, strategic partnerships, casework quality and public confidence.
In this reporting year we continued to operate in the long and difficult shadow of the pandemic. Backlogs, combined with other operational and financial pressures, have resulted in unacceptable delays for victims, witnesses, and defendants. We also continue to navigate increasing complexity in our caseload – these issues have translated into sustained workload pressures for our people.
These are not challenges with quick or simple solutions, and the backlog in the courts will impact the criminal justice system for a long time to come. However, we – alongside our partners – have continued to find new ways of managing operational difficulties, while also driving improvements in how we work. We are determined to improve victims’ experience of the criminal justice system.
Our people are our greatest asset and are the key to tackle the wider challenges we face, and this year we have grown rapidly and significantly to help us do so, with over 1,000 external starters across 2022-23, contributing to a net workforce growth of over 8%. We are also taking steps to make sure we are deploying colleagues flexibly and effectively in the areas of greatest need.
Supporting our diverse workforce remains an organisational priority – and whether they are working in an office, court or at home our people are supported by a comprehensive development and wellbeing package and wide-ranging opportunities for mentorship. This includes specialist support for those who work on the most distressing cases – including rape and serious sexual offences.
We secured further investment into the CPS to enable us to increase the fees we pay external counsel, in line with the investment in defence fees. This builds on current investment in the CPS over recent years, enabling prosecution and defence counsel to work on more equal terms. That we received ringfenced investment to enable this without impacting on our wider budget is welcome. However, there is real concern about maintaining the number of specialist criminal lawyers entering and remaining in the profession.
We have continued to invest in the digital tools our colleagues need every day – to facilitate more effective collaboration, with fewer delays. This includes working towards greater digitisation of casework information and making sure that our case management system remains fit for purpose.
We have maintained high levels of security compliance across our systems – including through mandatory rigorous training in response to increasingly complex cyber security risks. The level of threat remains high, and we will need continued focus to mitigate risks from hostile activity. A revised data strategy outlines the steps we will take to become a truly data-driven organisation – and we have made significant progress towards adopting the tools we will need.
We continue to work closely with our partners to tackle shared challenges – including sharing operational insight with parliamentarians and ministers. We have developed and delivered new training and resources to support our senior leaders in maximising their engagement with key stakeholders. Following a successful pilot last year, we have now started the roll out of our new charging model with police – designed to improve casefile quality and enable quicker charging decisions, ultimately improving our service to victims and witnesses.
We continue to drive forward our essential work to increase the number of rape cases going to court through two joint CPS/police initiatives: a refreshed Joint National Action Plan (JNAP) and Operation Soteria – our programme to develop new best practice approaches for the investigation and prosecution of adult rape. We are now seeing tangible results: since the launch of the JNAP in January 2021, there has been a 69% increase in referrals and an 86% increase in charge volumes for adult rape.
We continue to focus on building public confidence in the CPS – as well as making sure that we are listening carefully to the diverse communities we serve. This year we commissioned work to understand any disproportionality in the outcome of our legal decisions, and our work to investigate and address those findings continues. Work is also ongoing to reform our service to victims – especially those with the greatest need. A new Victims Reference Group will ensure the victims’ voice informs the improvements we all want to see. This year we trialled new familiarisation meetings and launched a new guide for victims navigating the criminal justice system.
This is my last Annual Report and Accounts as Director of Public Prosecutions, with my tenure coming to an end in October. Over the five years that I have held this privileged post, I have been humbled by the dedication of my CPS colleagues – their unstinting hard work and professionalism in the face of both new and longstanding and complex challenges. I am proud of the progress we have made together, and I will leave assured that colleagues remain committed to improving how we work – and ultimately in delivering better outcomes for the public we serve.
Max Hill KC
Director of Public Prosecutions
Photography Nicholas Posner