COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the Criminal Justice System (CJS). For context, ‘lockdown’ measures were announced in the Prime Minister’s 23 March statement on COVID-19, priority courts were put in place from 30 March, the CPS issued its Interim Charging Protocol on 1 April, and guidance on the application of the Public Interest test was issued on 14 April to manage demand on the CJS, requiring prosecutors to consider the impact of the pandemic when deciding whether charges are in the public interest.

This is a summary of CPS prosecution data for Quarter 3, 2019-2020.