Criminal suspects remain on bail for weeks or even months before being charged because of complex, inefficient and inconsistent charging practices, a new report today concludes. In one exceptional case, the time from arrest to charge was more than a year, at 369 days after arrest, although the average was 41.3 days, and suspects were regularly “rebailed”.

The findings are contained in a report on the new charging scheme undertaken jointly by the Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate and the Inspectorate of Constabulary.

Stephen Wooler, chief inspector of the CPS Inspectorate, said that suspects were on bail for a variety of reasons for longer than they should be because of the “more complex” arrangements. That was undesirable as “justice delayed was justice denied”, he said. “Cases should go through the system at their proper pace, without undue delay — that’s what we are trying to achieve — to ensure swift but soundly based decisions.”

But the report concludes that, despite problems, the task of charging of serious criminal suspects should remain with the CPS despite recent calls for it to be given back to the police.

It is the first review of statutory charging, the scheme phased in between 2004 and 2006 in which police handed to prosecutors the job of charging serious offences. Present processes, it finds, are “inconsistent, overly complex, inefficient and lacking in pragmatism, often leading to avoidable delays and frustration”.

The practice of prosecutors and police holding face-to-face meetings to advise on charging leads to delay, the quality of police files is often wanting and there are wide variations in practice, the joint report finds.

Yet despite criticisms by Dominic Grieve, the Shadow Home Secretary, and Sir Ronnie Flanagan, Chief Inspector of Constabulary, that the system is over-bureaucratic and police should take back the charging of more cases, the report comes out in its favour.

Wooler said: “This report does not go along with the finding that there should be any diminution of the scheme.” Sir Ronnie had accepted the findings and agreed instead that efficiencies were the way forward, he added. Peter Todd, assistant inspector of the Inspectorate of Constabulary, said: “We are coming at it from a different angle but we agree it’s about making the scheme more efficient.”

The idea of giving prosecutors a charging role stems from a report on the criminal courts by Sir Robin Auld in 2001. Contrary to widespread belief, the CPS is responsible for only 30 per cent of all charging: in 2007-08 that was a total of 335,000 charging decisions of all 966,000 cases finalised by the CPS that year. So 70 per cent of charging is still done by police although that includes many motoring offences (see right).

The change has cost £150 million in extra funds. Yet the report, while concluding it has delivered benefits to the justice system, says that “in purely financial terms it was difficult to gauge the value for money of the scheme”.

But on the upside, Wooler said, the scheme had brought better working between police and prosecutors — and that was the verdict of “the vast majority” of those on the ground.

Positive benefits included “good quality” final charging decisions and earlier and fewer discontinuances, stopping weak cases from going to court. In 2007-08, no further action was directed against nearly 30 per cent of all charging decisions. Results of cases had improved with higher guilty plea rates — in the Crown Court up to 71.3 per cent from 65 per cent in 2005-06. Overall though, the scheme needed to be “significantly more efficient” — and variations in practice needed to be ironed out.

Both police and prosecutors welcomed the report. Peter Lewis, the CPS chief executive, said: “This was a huge organisational and cultural change for the CPS and police working together . . . we are pleased the report acknowledges the progress made.” Tim Godwin, assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said that both parties had already embarked on projects that would “build on benefits achieved and improve overall efficiency”.

Will it change Tory policy? Grieve yesterday remained firm in his views. The scheme, he said, had “not only caused delays in the system, but undermined police discretion and created huge amounts of paperwork. It defies common sense that an officer can be tied up for eight hours, compiling the pre-charge case file, in a straightforward drugs possession case.”

The Conservatives would abolish the scheme, restoring charging to the custody sergeant for magistrates’ cases and review cases that can go before JPs or the Crown Court, leaving the CPS just with the most serious offences. “We estimate that in England and Wales this will save up to one million hours of police time a year.”

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