Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many prosecutions were discontinued due to the expiry of statutory time limits arising from police administrative delay in each of the last five years.

The Home Office publishes official statistics on the number of notifiable offences recorded by the police in England and Wales and their investigative outcomes on a quarterly basis. This includes outcome type 17 “Prosecution time limit expired”, and the requested information can be accessed here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/police-recorded-crime-and-outcomes-open-data-tables#outcomes-open-data

Whilst some cases may exceed statutory time limits, we expect police forces to follow the Director’s Guidance on Charging (6th edition) and to apply consistent, robust case management practices. This includes ensuring investigations are developed into high quality case files and that decisions are diligently reviewed against evidential and disclosure standards, doing everything possible to avoid the loss of viable prosecutions.

When prosecutions fail due to shortcomings in police case management, victims retain formal avenues to seek reassurance and challenge decisions, such as the Victims’ Right to Review (VRR). This allows victims to request an independent reassessment of decisions not to charge or to discontinue proceedings. As part of this process, police undertake a review of the original decision, examining all available evidence and considering whether any further investigative steps or alternative outcomes are possible.

The VRR framework provides an important safeguard within the Criminal Justice System by ensuring that decisions are tested against appropriate evidential and public interest standards and that the rationale for those decisions is transparent and robust.

It is important to note however, that the VRR process cannot override decisions made where statutory time limits governing the prosecution of the offences apply. Summary only offences, must have a charge laid within six months of the offence date under section 127 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980. Once this statutory time limit has expired, proceedings cannot lawfully be initiated; as a result the VRR route cannot reinstate any proceedings.

In cases involving either way or indictable offences, where no statutory time limit applies, a successful VRR can lead to the reinstatement of proceedings if the review finds that the original decision was not sound.