The Ministry of Justice has announced it will close 11 of the temporary Nightingale courts created during the pandemic over the next few weeks, while a further 12 will remain open for another year in an effort to tackle the backlog. Latest figures show the crown court backlog was still hovering around 59,000 in December, though this is at least a fall of 2,000 since the peak in June 2021. Although the waiting time between a reported offence and a verdict is still longer than ever…

Even so, with the ending of all other Covid measures last week, the MoJ now think it’s the right time to make the call – especially now that courtroom capacity has returned to the pre-pandemic norm. Justice minister James Cartlidge said Nightingale courts were

“…a valuable weapon in the fight against the pandemic’s unprecedented impact on our courts, providing temporary extra capacity … we are beginning to see the backlog drop so victims can get the speedier justice they deserve“.

The jury’s out on that one…