Interim CPS Charging Protocol – Covid-19 crisis response
1. The Covid-19 outbreak presents an unprecedented crisis for the Criminal Justice System in
the UK. Courts are currently unable to start any new jury or summary trials and most current
trials have had to be stopped because of problems over the attendance of victims,
witnesses, defendants, advocates and jurors.
2. Government guidance on social-distancing makes it apparent that the courts cannot operate
as they have been ahead of the crisis. The Senior Presiding Judge has set out guidelines
governing health and safety which must be in place in the Crown Courts, ahead of them
operating normally. The same principles must apply to the Magistrates’ Courts. There is not
currently a working digital solution to enable the consistent operation of a virtual court,
although the CPS and other Criminal Justice partners continue to work through very recent
legislative changes. These will allow some audio or video-enabled processes to be conducted
outside of criminal trials.
3. It follows that there must be careful consideration of what new offences are fed into the
system and how those offences are progressed. This interim protocol sets out how cases
should be managed by the police and the CPS by identifying three categories of cases:
A. IMMEDIATE - CUSTODY AND ALL COVID-19 RELATED CASES
B. HIGH PRIORITY CASES – NON-CUSTODY BAIL CASES
C. OTHER CASES – RELEASED UNDER INVESTIGATION OR NO ARREST REQUIRED
4. Below is an explanation of how these cases might be categorised and tables with case type
examples and explanations for why these types fit into a particular priority category.
A. IMMEDIATE - CUSTODY AND ALL COVID-19 RELATED CASES
5. Immediate cases are defined as those where the police or other investigators are seeking a
charging decision followed by a remand in custody (whether under an application of the Full
Code Test or the Threshold Test) or the case is COVID-19 related offence, whether or not a
remand in custody is required. For Threshold Test (TT) decisions all five of the TT conditions
must be met (these are set out below in Annex A). Police will access CPS pre-charge advice
in accordance with current arrangements but will only seek to obtain an immediate charging
decision for cases where the withholding of bail is properly justified or the case requires CPS
authority to charge and is a Covid-19 related case. During office hours any case under
paragraph 29 of Director’s Guidance 5 (DG5) (set out in Annex B) should be referred to local
CPS Areas. CPS Central Casework Divisions will continue to provide advice according to
existing arrangements with relevant investigative bodies. For all other immediate decisions
the police will access CPSD advice in the usual way.
6. Where a decision to charge has been made on an Immediate case, it should be anticipated
that the defendant will be placed before the next available court, for an application to
remand them in custody (although this may not apply with all Covid-19 related cases). There
is a general presumption in favour of bail, for a defendant, unless exceptions under the Bail
Act are met. Investigators must therefore consider carefully, in each case, whether the Bail
Act exceptions are met and make relevant representations to the CPS when submitting a file
