His Majesty's Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) has today issued a report following their inspection of the CPS handling of knife crime cases.

HMCPSI found that the CPS performs well in several key aspects of knife crime casework. They identified early decision-making, youth-related cases and the pursuit of ancillary orders as particular strengths.

However, areas for improvement were also identified. These include charge selection to reflect the use of threats and identifying the mandatory minimum sentencing provisions where they apply.

Inspectorates' recommendations/issues to address

There are two recommendations that relate to the CPS. The CPS provides its responses below and will continue to work with CJS partners in order to deliver these recommendations:

1. By April 2027, the CPS to be able to demonstrate a significant improvement in their compliance with identification of minimum mandatory sentence knife crime cases in pre- and post-charge reviews.
2. By June 2026, the CPS to review, refine and re-publish Knife and Other Weapons Offences guidance to support and highlight the need to identify mandatory minimum sentence cases.

CPS response:

The CPS accepts the recommendations, we will review, refine and re-publish the knife and other offensive weapons guidance. We will consider carefully the points raised by the Inspectorate and we will reflect on how the guidance can best promote quality in decision-making in knife crime cases.