An average caseworker at the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) last month had more than 20 cases on their desk – and at least one investigator had more than 40.
The CCRC is the only body with the power to reinvestigate wrongful convictions and send them to the Court of Appeal.
“There is no way in the world that the investigators can do justice to these difficult cases under such pressure,” said Jon Robins, editor of The Justice Gap and assistant to the government’s All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Miscarriages of Justice.
Andy Slaughter MP – chair of the government’s justice committee – said he would ask colleagues to investigate Newsquest’s findings.
“I am very concerned about it and I think the justice committee will be, and we are going to do some work on this,” he told Newsquest.
“Certainly, one of the things I will ask for us to look at is this issue of caseloads. There clearly are a lot of issues at the CCRC at the moment, but I think that you have hit on something significant there.”
Kirstie Moore, whose brother Jason is challenging his East End murder conviction through the CCRC, said Mr Slaughter’s comments were “brilliant” news.
Last week, we revealed that in January 2025 – despite having a full complement of case review workers – the average caseworker was juggling 23 cases.
The figure rose to 25 if trainees, new starters and leavers were not counted.
The highest number allocated to a single caseworker was 45.
Mr Robins said the average caseload in 2010 had been 12.5 – so Newsquest’s figures showed caseloads had doubled in 15 years.
At the same time, he said, the number of applications per year had risen sharply, yet the number being referred to the Court of Appeal had gone “through the floor”.
“The commission has been chronically understaffed for years,” he said.
We reported last week that the CCRC had seen a real-terms budget cut of 44 per cent over the past 20 years.
Mr Robins said it was being hampered by an “obvious lack of adequate funding” and needed “fundamental reform”.
The Ministry of Justice said CCRC funding was up 37pc compared to 2021/2.
The CCRC described its staff as “focused” and “hardworking”, with six cases referred to the Court of Appeal so far this year.
