Learn more about the activity of the CCRC and its case work since we started work in April 1997. This page reflects the latest figures up to the end of March 2025.
Applications and investigations (April 1997 – March 2025)
- 33,155 applications received (including all ineligible cases)
- 32,022 cases completed
- 945 cases under review
188 awaiting consideration
Referrals and decisions (April 1997 – March 2025)
- 869 cases referred to appeal courts
- 844 appeals heard by the courts
- 592 successful appeals
234 decisions upheld
18 abandoned by applicant
Casework policies
See our casework policies and procedures for information on several important areas relating to casework carried out by the CCRC.
Casework timelines
All cases
We aim to complete a minimum of 85% of cases within 12 months of receiving the application.
The graph shows the position at the end of March 2025 when 84.00% of cases where applicants in custody (in blue) and 76.20 % of cases where applicants were at liberty (in brown), were completed.
Cases allocated for review
We aim to make a decision within 30 weeks of a case review beginning (for example, from when a case is allocated to a Case Review Manager).
The graph shows the position as at the end of March 2025, when the average time taken for a review of the case of an applicant in custody (in blue) was around 38 weeks. For cases involving applicants at liberty (in brown) it was around 51 weeks.
The target was revised in April 2022 as the 36 week target was consistently achieved in 2021/22, with a number of long running cases closed during the year.
Long-running cases
We count a case as long running if it has been under review for more than 24 months. We pay close attention to such cases to ensure that they are not taking longer than is justifiable.
The graph shows the percentage of cases categorised as long running at the end of March 2025 and breaks them down by cases where the applicants are at liberty (shown in red) and in custody (shown in blue).
Our target is for long running cases (cases under review for 2 years or more) to represent less than 5% of all open applications at the end of the month.
See graph data for long running cases
April 2020 – All Cases 10.30%, Custody Cases 3.98%, Liberty Cases 6.32%
May 2020 – All Cases 11.83%, Custody Cases 4.47%, Liberty Cases 7.36%
June 2020 – All Cases 8.60%, Custody Cases 4.37%, Liberty Cases 4.23%
July 2020 – All Cases 7.39%, Custody Cases 4.22%, Liberty Cases 3.17%
August 2020 – All Cases 7.42%, Custody Cases 4.14%, Liberty Cases 3.28%
September 2020 – All Cases 7.43%, Custody Cases 3.99%, Liberty Cases 3.44%
October 2020 – All Cases 7.42%, Custody Cases 4.06%, Liberty Cases 3.36%
November 2020 – All Cases 7.64%, Custody Cases 4.11%, Liberty Cases 3.52%
December 2020 – All Cases 6.48%, Custody Cases 3.72%, Liberty Cases 2.76%
January 2021 – All Cases 5.85%, Custody Cases 3.40%, Liberty Cases 2.45%
February 2021 – All Cases 6.11%, Custody Cases 3.55%, Liberty Cases 2.56%
March 2021 – All Cases 5.96%, Custody Cases 3.4%, Liberty Cases 2.49%
April 2021 – All Cases 5.73%, Custody Cases 3.47%, Liberty Cases 2.27%
May 2021 – All Cases 5.71%, Custody Cases 3.37%, Liberty Cases 2.33%
June 2021 – All Cases 5.49%, Custody Cases 3.12%, Liberty Cases 2.37%
July 2021 – All Cases 6.01%, Custody Cases 3.56%, Liberty Cases 2.45%
August 2021 – All Cases 5.58%, Custody Cases 3.15%, Liberty Cases 2.42%
September 2021 – All Cases 5.68%, Custody Cases 3.03%, Liberty Cases 2.65%
October 2021 – All Cases 5.83%, Custody Cases 2.78%, Liberty Cases 3.05%
November 2021 -– All Cases 5.84%, Custody Cases 2.79%, Liberty Cases 3.05%
December 2021– All Cases 7.02%, Custody Cases 3.05%, Liberty Cases 3.97%
January 2022 – All Cases 7.54%, Custody Cases 3.17%, Liberty Cases 4.37%
February 2022 – All Cases 6.99%, Custody Cases 3.23%, Liberty Cases 3.76%
March 2022 – All Cases 6.24%, Custody Cases 3.26%, Liberty Cases 2.99%
April 2022 – All Cases 6.43%, Custody Cases 3.67%, Liberty Cases 2.76%
May 2022 – All Cases 6.73%, Custody Cases 3.81%, Liberty Cases 2.92%
June 2022 – All Cases 6.62%, Custody Cases 3.75%, Liberty Cases 2.87%
July 2022 – All Cases 6.02%, Custody Cases 3.61%, Liberty Cases 2.41%
August 2022 – All Cases 5.94%, Custody Cases 3.38%, Liberty Cases 2.56%
September 2022 – All Cases 5.64%, Custody Cases 3.38%, Liberty Cases 2.25%,
October 2022 – All Cases 5.20%, Custody Cases 2.99%, Liberty Cases 2.21%
December 2022 – All Cases 5.39%, Custody Cases 2.81%, Liberty Cases 2.58%
January 2023 – All Cases 4.68%, Custody Cases 2.50%, Liberty Cases 2.18%
February 2023 – All Cases 5.84%, Custody Cases 2.53%, Liberty Cases 3.30%
March 2023 – All Cases 6.19%, Custody Cases 2.82%, Liberty Cases 3.38%
April 2023 – All Cases 6.14%, Custody Cases 2.97%, Liberty Cases 3.18%
May 2023 – All Cases 6.19%, Custody Cases 2.77%, Liberty Cases 3.42%
June 2023 – All Cases 6.51%, Custody Cases 2.94%, Liberty Cases 3.57%
July 2023 – All Cases 6.42%, Custody Cases 2.95%, Liberty Cases 3.47%
August 2023 – All Cases 6.55%, Custody Cases 2.87%, Liberty Cases 3.68%
September 2023 – All Cases 7.26%, Custody Cases 3.14%, Liberty Cases 4.12%
October 2023 – All Cases 7.52%, Custody Cases 3.17%, Liberty Cases 4.35%
November 2023 – All Cases 7.49%, Custody Cases 3.49%, Liberty Cases 4%
December 2023 – All Cases 9.90%, Custody Cases 3.86%, Liberty Cases 6.04%
January 2024 – All Cases 9.50%, Custody Cases 3.86%, Liberty Cases 5.64%
February 2024 – All Cases 9.35%, Custody Cases 3.74%, Liberty Cases 5.61%
March 2024 – All Cases 9.21%, Custody Cases 3.63%, Liberty Cases 5.58%
April 2024 – All Cases 9.36%, Custody Cases 3.64%, Liberty Cases 5.73%
May 2024 – All Cases 10.64%, Custody Cases 3.70%, Liberty Cases 6.94%
June 2024 – All Cases 10.39%, Custody Cases 3.61%, Liberty Cases 6.78%
July 2024 – All Cases 10.59%, Custody Cases 3.53%, Liberty Cases 7.06%
August 2024 – All Cases 10.75%, Custody Cases 3.77%, Liberty Cases 6.99%
September 2024 – All Cases 9.97%, Custody Cases 3.59%, Liberty Cases 6.39%
October 2024 – All Cases 9.72%, Custody Cases 3.59%, Liberty Cases 6.13%
November 2024 – All Cases 10.09%, Custody Cases 4.04%, Liberty Cases 6.05%
December 2024 – All Cases 10.34%, Custody Cases 4.02%, Liberty Cases 6.32%
January 2025 – All Cases 10.81%, Custody Cases 4.48%, Liberty Cases 6.33%
February 2025 – All Cases 10.34%, Custody Cases 4.40%, Liberty Cases 5.95%
March 2025 – All Cases 9.97%, Custody Cases 4.32%, Liberty Cases 5.65%
The difference between the total number of CCRC referrals heard by the appeal courts and the number of outcomes recorded is accounted for by cases where the appeal proceedings have been heard but the judgement is awaited and a number of cases that were referred by the CCRC but the appeal was abandoned.
More performance indicators
Find out more about the Commission’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for March 2024 to March 2025 here.