The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) last month set out projected criminal business levels across the High Court and sheriff courts over the next five years, identifying a “significant upward trend”.

Additional trial courts will be required from April 2026 to “alleviate pressure”, the report says, noting this is “an expensive route that will require significant financial support from the Scottish government as well as collaborative and innovative solutions from justice partners”.

The report projects a 10 per cent annual increase in indictments registered, which will see the High Court’s backlog grow from 743 cases in March 2025 to 2,412 in March 2030 if it continues to operate with 22 trial courts.

This will see the average weeks to evidence-led trial grow from 42 weeks at present to 136 weeks – more than two-and-a-half years.

If four additional trial courts are allocated from April 2026, the backlog will be 1,778 cases with an average length of 100 weeks, the report estimates. If six are allocated, this decreases to 1,460 cases with an average length of 83 weeks.

In contrast, the number of trial courts in the sheriff courts could be safely reduced from April 2026, according to the report.

At that point, it “would be safe to reduce to somewhere between 20 and 22 trial courts”, it says. However, it could not be returned to the 2019/20 core funding position of 18 trial courts without seeing backlogs and waiting periods grow.