Charge rates show steady increase across all crime types as CPS publishes latest statistics

Today the CPS has published Q1 performance data which covers the three-month period from 1 April to 30 June 2022.

Notable changes in the data from Q4 2021-22 to Q1 2022 – 23 include:

• Charge rates have increased across All Crime, Domestic Abuse, Hate Crime and Rape
  • All-crime charge rate has increased by 2.3 percentage points to 78.8%
  • Domestic Abuse charge rate has increased from 72.6% to 77.2%
  • Hate Crime charge rate has increased by 2.4 percentage points to 87.3%
  • The Rape charge rate has increased from 71.1% to 72.8%.

• A 10% increase in pre-charge rape referrals from the police, up from 1,182 to 1,300
• Rape charge has increased by 3.6% from 643 to 666.
• Average timeliness has seen an improvement across the board.
• Completed prosecutions decreased by 6.8% from 107,035 to 99,797
• A 7.9% reduction in the completed prosecutions for rape cases from 675 to 622
• A 4.3% reduction in the completed prosecutions for Domestic Abuse cases from 13,442 to 12,858
• A 5.1% reduction in the completed prosecutions for Hate Crime cases from 3,365 to 3,192
• In 98.1% of all post-trial cases the decisions to charge and proceed to trial are correct
• This quarter has seen the first increase in overall caseload since the peak of the pandemic in summer 2021 increasing by 2.3%.

The police and CPS have committed to work together earlier to build strong cases which can pass swiftly through the justice system, under the Joint National Action Plan. Today, this plan has been refreshed, setting out a range of actions to improve how we investigate and prosecute rape offences.

Read more about our joint work here: National blueprint for prosecuting rape takes a step closer with refreshed joint work pledge