Timely Justice Action Plan
The Timely Justice Action Plan focuses on improving how criminal cases progress through the District Court. It aims to reduce delays and backlogs, make each event meaningful, and support fair and timely outcomes for everyone involved. The success of the Action Plan relies on strong collaboration across the justice sector, as timely access to justice can only be achieved through coordinated effort.
The Action Plan is used to identify, monitor, and report on sector work with the greatest potential to improve timeliness across the adult criminal justice system. The current Action Plan has focused on a set of operational initiatives, alongside longer-term policy and technology work.
Since early 2024, the justice sector has made steady progress in moving cases through the courts more efficiently, reducing existing backlogs and preventing new ones from forming. As of August 2026, 85% of criminal cases in the District Court were disposed of within agreed timeframes, up from 81% in February 2024. This improvement marks a clear shift in performance, especially given earlier projections of a decline to 77% by 2027. Instead, all indicators now show progress in the right direction.
On 28 February 2026, the Minister for Courts, Hon Nicole McKee announced the largest ever reduction in the District Court’s criminal backlog, with a 22 percent drop over the past year – the equivalent of 1,562 fewer cases waiting to be heard. “The turnaround reflects a whole-of-justice-sector effort, including collaboration between the judiciary, court staff, the legal profession, and agencies such as Police and Corrections. I want to thank everyone across the sector who has worked hard to achieve this result. Their focus on timeliness is making a tangible difference for victims and communities. The improvement demonstrates the continuing impact of the justice sector’s timeliness initiatives, first introduced in the Auckland metro courts and now reflected in national performance.”
Initiatives supporting this momentum across the criminal justice system including the Judge-Alone Trial Protocol, Case Review Hearing Best Practice Guidelines, Bail Application Scheduling Framework, Duty Lawyer Operational Policy, Same Day Sentencing Initiative, and strengthened Police Prosecution Services, have now all been implemented across New Zealand. These initiatives have resulted in improvements to court efficiency and case progression through 2025-26.
Related information - Timely Justice
Remote Participation
The Remote Participation sector programme is designed to make it easier for people involved in criminal cases to take part in court proceedings via audio-visual link instead of attending in person. The aim is to ensure fair and effective participation by providing access to suitable technology, legal advice, and appropriate facilities. Judges will continue to determine whether remote participation is appropriate for each case.
Since the programme launched, agencies have worked together to strengthen services, increase uptake, and implement the judicial protocols for remote participation in court to support consistent practice. Strengthened data collection is helping agencies identify where improvements are most needed.
The next phase will identify sector-wide opportunities for longer-term investment and planning.
The Ministry of Justice has completed a first principles review of the Courts (Remote Participation) Act 2010. The Act will be replaced by a new high-level enabling Act, supported by Court Rules that set out which court events will default to remote participation and which will remain in person. This will provide greater certainty and consistency across courts.
Related information - Remote participation