Crown Prosecution Service: Vacancies

(asked on 5th January 2026) - View Source
Questioner
Neil Shastri-Hurst Portrait
Neil Shastri-Hurst
(Conservative - Solihull West and Shirley)

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what the current vacancy rate is for Crown Prosecutors, broken down by region.

Answered by
Ellie Reeves Portrait
Ellie Reeves
Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
This question was answered on 13th January 2026

The overall vacancy rate for ‘Crown Prosecutors’* across the 14 regional, geographic areas that make up the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is 4.5% (at the end of December 2025). The table below includes the regional breakdown for CPS vacancy rates applicable to these legal roles.

For context, the vacancy rates are shown alongside the number of vacancies within each geographic area, against the current area Full Time Equivalent (FTE).

*These figures include all legal staff designated as ‘Crown Prosecutors’ only.

Actual FTE

Budget FTE (T2)

Vacancies
(over) / under

Vacancy Rate

Cymru Wales Area

151.85

163.28

11.43

7.0%

East of England Area

145.80

151.66

5.86

3.9%

East Midlands Area

176.25

192.83

16.58

8.6%

London North

253.48

278.48

25.00

9.0%

London South

248.80

239.43

(9.37)

-3.9%

Mersey Cheshire Area

133.79

137.32

3.53

2.6%

North East Area

110.03

130.07

20.04

15.4%

North West Area

251.40

243.14

(8.26)

-3.4%

South East Area

145.64

151.46

5.82

3.8%

South West Area

128.69

128.50

(0.19)

-0.1%

Thames and Chiltern Area

127.48

144.01

16.53

11.5%

Wessex Area

121.19

122.75

1.56

1.3%

West Midlands Area

230.80

247.82

17.01

6.9%

Yorkshire and Humberside Area

237.70

247.53

9.82

4.0%

14 Geographic Areas

2,462.91

2,578.27

115.36

4.5%

Reticulating Splines