His Majesty's Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) have today issued a report following their inspection of the assurance systems for cases subject to custody time limits (CTLs) by CPS Areas.

The Inspection follows two inspections into our handling of CTL cases, the first conducted in 2021 and a follow up in 2023. The 2021 inspection found that the CPS had effective arrangements for monitoring CTLs. The follow up in 2021 made one recommendation that the CPS must embed the consistent use of updating the CTL case progression log.

The report published today recognises that legal and operational managers in all Areas takes their casework responsibilities on these cases very seriously. The commitment and efforts of staff to prevent CTL failures was evident irrespective of significant operational pressures, including very high caseloads and complex evidential demands.

Over the last year the volume of cases subject to custody time limits has increased by 21% (October 2025) and remain at historically unprecedented levels. Although there has been an increase in the number of custody time limit failures, they remain at less than half a percent of the overall custody caseload. The report recognises that the current approach to managing custody time limits predates the significant and increasing number of custody time limit cases and this combined with the volume of serious Crown Court custody trials being fixed outside the custody time limit means the system now needs review.

We have already put the necessary structures in place which will enable us to address the recommendations in the report which will see a review of the end-to-end process and a redesign of the assurance process. This redesign will ensure that assurance activity is proportionate, risk led and focused on early case strategy.

Inspectorates’ recommendations/issues to address

There are four recommendations to address. The CPS provides its responses below and will continue to work with CJS partners to deliver these recommendations:

Recommendation 1

By 31 July 2026, the national custody time limit (CTL) working group should:

• review Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Area reports on Level 1 monthly assurance checks and CTL Assurance app completion to identify performance issues
• scrutinise Area performance and share best practice through Level 1 and Level 2 assurance processes. (Paragraph 5.42)

CPS response:

The CPS accepts the recommendation and the CTL Working Group will review the Area Level 1 monthly assurance checks and CTL App completion to identify performance issues and scrutinise Area performance and share best practice through the Level 1 and Level 2 assurance processes.

Recommendation 2

By 31 July 2026 to clarify the responsibilities of Area custody time limit (CTL) Champions as referenced in the national standards, including:

a clear definition of the Area Strategic Champion role at Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor (DCCP) level, focused on improving CTL performance

a clear definition of the Area Operational Champion role, including the required legal management level and the expectation to provide coaching and mentoring to support risk assessment and assurance. (Paragraph 5.46)

CPS response:

The CPS accepts the recommendation and will clarify the responsibilities of the Area CTL Champion and define the role of the Area Strategic Champion and Area Operational Champion. This will include the required legal management level and the expectation to provide coaching and mentoring to support risk assessment and assurance.

Recommendation 3

By 31 July 2026 to revise and publish the custody time limit (CTL) Level D aide memoire, including the CTL Casework Quality Monitoring version, to add detailed questions for threshold test cases. These should require explicit consideration of risk factors that increase the likelihood of CTL failures, including issues relating to digital submissions, delays in digital forensic evidence, and decisions affecting uncharged offences that may impact case progression and a defendant’s custody status. (Paragraph 6.23)

CPS response:

The CPS accepts the recommendation and will revise and publish the CTL Level D aide memoire to include consideration of the explicit risk factors that increase the likelihood of CTL failures. This will form part of a wider piece of work which will review the training provided to new legal managers on managing CTL cases and our approach to case strategy in CTL cases.

Recommendation 4

The CPS should use the findings from this inspection of CTL assurance systems to develop and implement a new approach to how it assesses and manages CTL assurance. The new approach should be a risk-led model, that prioritises the early identification and active management of high-risk cases. Assurance activity should be targeted where the risk of delay is greatest, ensuring timely intervention to prevent CTL failures.

The timescales for this recommendation are:

• by 30 September 2026, the CPS to have designed a new approach
• by 31 December 2026, the CPS to have implemented the new approach
• by 30 April 2027, the CPS will have carried out internal evaluation to assess whether the new approach has been successfully embedded. 

(Paragraphs 6.10, 6.29, 8.17, 8.45)

CPS response:

The CPS accepts the recommendation and a full review of the process to manage and assure CTL cases will be undertaken. The CTL assurance process will be redesigned based on a risk-led model, that prioritises the early identification and active management of high risk cases. This work will strengthen our ability to manage the increasing volume and complexity of CTL cases and continuously improve our casework quality.