Public Prosecution Service issued 40,336 prosecutorial decisions in 2025/26

Date published: 25 June 2026

New official statistics published today by NISRA statisticians seconded to the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) present information on the activity of the PPS during the 2025/26 financial year.

Key findings

During 2025/26:

• The PPS issued 40,336 prosecutorial decisions. The Test for Prosecution was met in 76.5% of cases. This included 28,603 decisions for prosecution and 2,270 decisions for diversion from the courts.
• The PPS received 37,481 files, a decrease of 3.1% on 2024/25. Of these, 37,119 files were received from police.
• The majority of files received from police were in two offence classifications. Motoring offences accounted for 36.2% of files (13,438) and violence against the person accounted for 26.4% of files (9,809).
• 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).
• There were 1,416 defendants dealt with in the Crown Court, a decrease of 11.4% on 2024/25.
• The median calendar days required for the issue of an indictable prosecution decision was 171 days, down from 197 days in 2024/25.

About this publication

This bulletin provides an overview of PPS activity during the 2025/26 financial year. It includes statistics on files received, caseloads and prosecutorial decisions. It also covers decision types, reasons for no prosecution and the outcomes of prosecutions at court. 

Further information

Read the full report, data tables and background information: PPS statistical bulletin 2025-26 | Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland