Our performance this year

We publish our business plan at the start of the year. It sets out how we’ll achieve our strategy and how we’ll measure our performance. Our 2025-2026 business plan included ambitious targets to measure our performance. It also set out specific actions we would take to improve how we deliver justice.

We’ve made significant progress this year, but there is still more work to do. We delivered the majority of what we committed to in our business plan and showed year-on-year improvements in nine of our eleven key performance indicators (KPIs). For more detail on our performance this year, go to the performance analysis section.

How we’ve increased our capability this year

We achieved the majority of what we said we would do in our business plan, including growing our in-house Crown Advocate team.

Key Performance Indicator¹	24-25	25-26
We will grow our government Digital, Data and Technology profession to 3.5% of the workforce by 31 March 2026.	N/A	2.1%²
For people joining us we will make sure the period from acceptance of an employment offer to a signed contract does not exceed an average of 32 working days.	43	31
75% of our Level 1 Crown Advocates achieve promotion to Level 2 within 1 year.	N/A	75%

How we’ve increased casework quality

We achieved the majority of what we said we would do in our business plan, including improving how we review and assure all our casework.

Key Performance Indicator	24-25	25-26
Of those who plead guilty in the Magistrates’ Court, at least 76% will do so at First Hearing.	77%	76%
Of those who plead guilty in the Crown Court, at least 38% will do so at First Hearing.	37%	37%³

How we’ve reduced delays in the CJS

This year we focused on tackling delays. While we didn’t achieve everything we wanted to in the business plan, it is encouraging that our pre-charge timeliness is better than the previous three years.

Key Performance Indicator	24-25	25-26
At least 75% of our charging reviews or decisions will be made within 28 days.	67%	71%⁴
At least 95% of initial disclosures of prosecution cases will be serviced within five days of the first hearing in Magistrates Court.	91%	96%
At least 80% of initial disclosures will be served before the Plea and Trial Preparation Hearing or in compliance with a Crown Court direction.	81%	84%
Our core Digital Case Management System will be available for our people at least 99.9% of planned uptime.	99.6%	99.98%

How we’ve increased trust in the CPS

We delivered most of our business plan commitments, including introducing pre-trial meetings to better support victims of rape.

Key Performance Indicator	24-25	25-26
At least 87% of our letters to victims will be sent within the timeliness standards.	80%	82%⁵
At least 97% of approved invoices and witness expense claims will be settled within 10 days of receipt.	97%	97%
We will increase the proportion of people that are confident that the CPS prosecute the right person for the right offence (2024: 58%).	58%	53%⁶

The operational KPIs presented in this table reflect performance across the 14 geographic CPS Areas, including CPS Direct. Other performance data included in this report may be presented at a national level and is therefore not directly comparable.
This footnote relates to the Digital, Data and Technology workforce KPI (target: 3.5%, actual: 2.1%). The target was not achieved due to wider workforce growth and recruitment challenges. This KPI has been retained for 2026-27.
This footnote relates to the Crown Court guilty plea at first hearing KPI (target: 38%, actual: 37%). Performance was below target, with external factors such as Crown Court backlogs and delays in trial listing likely contributing to fewer early guilty pleas.
This footnote relates to the charging timeliness KPI (target: 75%, actual: 71%). Performance has improved compared with prior years but remains below target. For 2026-27, this measure will be refined to separately track urgent (‘Red’) and non-urgent (‘Green’) charging decisions.
This footnote relates to the victim communications KPI (target: 87%, actual: 82%). The target was not achieved, and performance will be monitored through revised KPIs in 2026-27, including separate measures for vulnerable and non-vulnerable victims.
This footnote relates to the public confidence KPI (target: increase from 58% in 2024, actual: 53%). The decrease reflects a return to baseline following a peak in 2024 and should be considered in the wider context of public confidence in the criminal justice system.