Publication date:
The Public Prosecution Service (PPS) has published its Statistical Bulletin 2025/26 (25th June 2026) which presents key statistics on the activity of the PPS including files received, caseloads and prosecutorial decisions. It also covers decision types, including reasons for no prosecution, and the outcomes of prosecutions at court.
The statistics relate to the 2025/26 financial year (i.e., 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026) and include comparisons with the 2024/25 financial year.
Key findings
During 2025/26:
The PPS received a total of 37,481 files, a decrease of 3.1% on 2024/25 (38,682). Of these 37,481 files, 37,119 were received from Police.
The majority of files received from Police were within two offence classifications 36.2% related to ‘motoring offences’ offences (13,438) and 26.4% related to ‘violence against the person’ (9,809). The classification ‘possession of weapons’ had the largest percentage increase in files received (15.0%).
In addition to the files received from the PSNI, 362 files were submitted to PPS by government departments and agencies. Of these, 27.9% were received from the Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland and 18.0% were received from the Department for Communities.
A total of 40,336 prosecutorial decisions were issued by the PPS. The Test for Prosecution was met for 76.5% of cases which included 28,603 decisions for prosecution and 2,270 for diversion from the courts.
Of the 9,463 decisions for no prosecution, the vast majority (97.5%) did not pass the evidential test. The remaining 2.5% did not pass the public interest test.
Median calendar days required for the issue of an indictable prosecution decision (prosecution in the Crown Court) decreased during the current period to 171 days, down from 197 days during 2024/25. Summary prosecutions decisions (prosecution in the Magistrates’ or Youth Court) required a median of eight days, which is lower than the previous financial year (13 days).
There were 1,416 defendants dealt with in the Crown Court. This was a decrease of 11.4% on the previous financial year (1,599). The overall conviction rate in the Crown Court was 86.0%, compared with 87.4% in 2024/25.
A total of 26,406 defendants were dealt with in the Magistrates’ and Youth Courts, a decrease of 8.1% on 2024/25 (28,718). The conviction rate in the Magistrates’ and Youth Courts was 81.1%, compared with 79.0% in 2024/25.
The Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Herron said: “This Bulletin highlights the work of the PPS and our central role within the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland. Published annually, it reflects our commitment to openness and transparency - an approach that is essential to maintaining public trust and confidence.
“The Bulletin also provides important insights into our performance. We carefully analyse all the data to identify any learning or improvements needed, including to our services to victims and witnesses.
“Over the year-long period captured by the Bulletin, the PPS has continued to manage a significant volume of work, carefully considering more than 37,000 investigative files and issuing over 40,000 prosecutorial decisions,” he said.
“Our overall caseload has decreased slightly over the past year. While no single factor explains this trend, it is consistent with wider developments. This includes a continued overall reduction in crimes reported to police, the introduction of the No File Decision project, and increasing out of court disposal options to enable certain lower-level cases to be addressed more proportionately by police. This is necessary as there have been sustained levels of more serious casework over the last 10 years which is more resource intensive to deal with for all parts of the justice system.
“One of the most pressing issues facing the criminal justice system continues to be delay, particularly as regards more serious offences which are brought in the Crown Court. This has a significant impact on victims and witnesses and will inevitably have been worsened by the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) strike action by criminal defence barristers, which ended earlier this month. We in the PPS are committed to prioritising the most vulnerable victims and witnesses, ensuring their cases are progressed as swiftly as possible.
“Reducing delay as much as possible remains a central focus for the PPS. It is encouraging to see that the average time taken to issue an indictable (Crown Court) prosecution decision has decreased, and that summary (Magistrates Court) prosecution decisions took an average of eight days. “However, transformative change to tackle delay and improve services for victims and witnesses depends on sustained partnership working between all criminal justice agencies including police, courts, the judiciary and the Department of Justice. Together, we are working to improve timeliness while also ensuring that the fairness and impartiality of decision making and the trial process is maintained.”
Mr Herron paid tribute to PPS staff across legal and support roles for their dedication and professionalism.
“Every file we receive is carefully assessed. While volumes have reduced slightly, the complexity of our work continues to increase. This requires a high level of expertise from our staff,” he said.
“We are managing growing volumes of digital evidence, which is now common in most cases. We also continue to receive high numbers of domestic and sexual offence cases. These require a particularly sensitive and informed approach, especially when working with vulnerable victims.”
The Director welcomed the fact that conviction rates in court had remained consistent with previous years.
“We do not pursue convictions at any cost and remain committed to fairness and impartiality in every case. However, conviction rates remain an important indicator of how effectively the system is operating. I am pleased that rates have remained similar to previous years, with 81.1% in the Magistrates and Youth Courts and 86% in the Crown Court,” he said.
Mr Herron said the PPS remained focused on delivering fair, impartial and high-quality decisions, with victims and witnesses at the centre of its work, while coping with the impact of the Criminal Bar Association strike.
“With criminal defence barristers now returning to work in legally-aided Crown Court cases, there is a high level of activity across the justice system to restart court business.
“It will take time to address the backlog created by the strike, but all partners are working together to progress cases as quickly as possible within available capacity.
“Looking to the year ahead, we will continue to provide an independent and effective prosecution service for the people of Northern Ireland. Our focus will be on maintaining strong performance, upholding the integrity of our decision-making, working with partners to make improvements across the system and further improving our services to victims and witnesses,” he said.
Notes to editors:
This summary should be read in conjunction with the explanatory notes and user information provided (see pages 13 - 18 of the statistical bulletin).
These are ‘Official Statistics’ as defined in Section 6 of the Statistics and Registration Services Act 2007. Statisticians from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency are seconded to the PPS and are responsible for ensuring that the statistics produced comply with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.
The information presented in this bulletin is derived from the Case Management System, the main operational system within the PPS. This is a ‘live’ system with data being input on a daily basis.
The full statistical bulletin may be viewed or downloaded on the PPS website
Any member of the public may comment on the report by contacting PPS as follows:
Public Prosecution Service
Belfast Chambers
93 Chichester Street
Belfast BT1 3JR
Tel: 02890 897100
Email: info@ppsni.gsi.gov.uk
Website: www.ppsni.gov.uk
Note that the PPS staff and Counsel were not involved in any strike action on behalf of the prosecution. There is an update for victims and witnesses affected by the Criminal Bar Association strike on our website.
For media enquiries within office hours (Monday – Friday, between 9am and 5pm and excluding public and bank holidays) please contact PPS Communications by emailing ppspressoffice@ppsni.gov.uk. For urgent out of hours media queries, please call the duty press officer on 07795 480234, 07920 271804 or 07341 800254.