Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) has today published its Area Assurance Inspection report for Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) London North.

Amidst the significant challenges of dividing CPS London into the 2 new Areas of London North and South, both Areas have effectively built strong working relationships with key criminal justice partners. Inspectors were impressed with the progress that the Area has made raising employee engagement and instilling a culture which staff highlighted as a positive change. There are some underlying issues that still impact engagement, such as high levels of bullying and harassment which the Area has identified and started to do a great deal to address concerns.

While improvements have been made since the London split, the Area recognises that work needs to be done with regards to casework. Currently, only one third of cases supplied by the police fully comply with the National File Standard at the time of submission to the CPS, resulting in the Area struggling to identify weak police cases at an early stage, resulting in significant wasted resource.

Some of this comes down to legacy issues with poor quality files from before the CPS London split, but a joint plan between both CPS London Areas and the Metropolitan Police Service aims to provide effective mechanisms to hold the police to account, monitor file quality, share data and escalate casework issues. Inspectors noted that a quarter of the cases in both the Crown Court and the magistrates’ courts had no review at all. This prevents the Area getting a grip at an early stage to build a stronger case as part of the prosecution strategy or to weed out weak cases. Inspectors noted that the Area needs to do more internally and with partners to improve the quality of decision making and ensure that it is receiving the service that allows it to be efficient and effective.

Commenting on the report, HMCPSI Chief Inspector Kevin McGinty said:

“CPS London North has faced a considerable challenge to improve performance but has made a promising start. It has worked hard to build successful working relationships with key stakeholders and this is beginning to improve quality of files received. There are signs that the senior management team are beginning to improve staff engagement and there are some early indications of success. But casework quality needs to improve if the justifiable expectations of the public are to be met.”

Notes to editors

CPS London was the largest CPS Area where over a sustained period of time case outcomes had been less successful than nationally. Following a review, it was divided into 2 new Areas, CPS London North and CPS London South, which went live on 1 April 2017.