How Long Does a Conviction Appeal Take in the UK, Timelines, Permission, CCRC Route and 2026 Reform Signals

If you or someone close to you has been convicted in a criminal court, the question of how long does a conviction appeal take in the UK is almost certainly one of the first things on your mind. The answer depends on which court delivered the conviction, whether you need permission to appeal, and the complexity of your grounds, but the critical first deadline is almost always 28 days from the date of sentencing. Magistrates’ Court convictions can typically be reheard at the Crown Court within a matter of weeks to months, whereas appeals from the Crown Court to the Court of Appeal Criminal Division (CACD) commonly take around ten months from application to final hearing.

For those who have exhausted standard appeal routes, the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) offers a separate pathway, though review timescales range from a few weeks for straightforward cases to many months for complex investigations. Meanwhile, the Law Commission’s ongoing criminal appeals project and the Courts and Tribunals Bill 2026 signal that these procedures could change significantly in the coming years.

Quick Summary, How Long Does a Conviction Appeal Take?

Before diving into the detail, here are the headline timescales for each appeal route currently available in England and Wales:

• Magistrates’ Court → Crown Court (rehearing). You have an automatic right of appeal. Once your notice of appeal is lodged, the Crown Court typically lists the rehearing within two to four months, though this varies by location and court capacity.
• Crown Court → Court of Appeal Criminal Division (CACD). You must apply for permission to appeal within 28 days of sentencing. If permission is granted, the CACD aims to hear conviction appeals within approximately ten months from receipt of the application. Sentence-only appeals often conclude more quickly.
• CCRC referral route. There is no fixed time limit for applying to the CCRC, but review timescales vary enormously, from a few weeks for a straightforward assessment to many months or longer for cases requiring fresh investigation.

These figures are indicative. Individual cases can take substantially longer, or, less commonly, substantially less time, depending on the grounds raised, whether transcripts are required, and court listing pressures. The sections below break down each route in detail.

Timelines by Court, How Long Does a Conviction Appeal Take at Each Stage?

Understanding which court your case sits in, and what procedural steps you must complete, is essential to managing expectations. Below is a detailed comparison of the two main appeal routes and the CCRC alternative.

Magistrates’ Court Appeals, Automatic Right to the Crown Court

If you were convicted in a magistrates’ court after a trial, you can appeal against conviction, sentence, or both to the Crown Court. This is a rehearing, meaning the Crown Court hears the case afresh, with witnesses giving evidence again. You do not need to show that the magistrates made a specific legal error; you simply need to file a notice of appeal within the required time limit.

The notice of appeal must generally be served within 21 days of the sentence. Once filed, the Crown Court will list a hearing date. In practice, the wait for a rehearing date varies considerably by region, but a window of two to four months is common. During this time, your legal team should be preparing the case for a full rehearing, gathering any updated evidence, and liaising with the court about listing.

Crown Court Appeals to the Court of Appeal Criminal Division (CACD)

Appeals from the Crown Court follow a more complex and formal process. You must apply for permission to appeal within 28 days of the date you were sentenced, not the date of conviction, if the two differ. The application is made using form NG (Notice of Appeal against Conviction / Application for Leave to Appeal) and must be sent to the Criminal Appeal Office at the Royal Courts of Justice.

Because permission to appeal is required, there are effectively two stages to the timeline. First, a single judge reviews the papers, this permission stage can itself take several weeks to months, depending on whether transcripts need to be obtained and how complex the grounds are. Second, if permission is granted, the case is listed for a full hearing before the CACD. The Court of Appeal’s overall target for conviction appeals is approximately ten months from receipt of the application to final hearing. Sentence-only appeals generally progress faster, with an average of around five months, though these figures vary year on year and are affected by the court’s caseload.

CCRC Route, When Standard Appeal Routes Are Exhausted

The Criminal Cases Review Commission is an independent body that investigates possible miscarriages of justice. A CCRC application is not a substitute for appealing through the courts; it is designed for cases where all standard appeal rights have been used up, or where new evidence or a new legal argument has emerged that was not available at trial or during the original appeal.

There is no time limit for making a CCRC application. However, the CCRC’s own guidance explains that review timescales can range from a few weeks for straightforward assessments to many months, or even longer, for cases requiring substantial fresh investigation. If the CCRC concludes there is a “real possibility” that the conviction would not be upheld, it can refer the case back to the Court of Appeal for a new hearing.

Permission to Appeal, What It Is and How Long the Permission Stage Takes

Permission to appeal (historically called “leave to appeal”) is the gateway to a hearing in the Court of Appeal Criminal Division. It exists to filter out cases that have no reasonable prospect of success and to ensure the court’s resources are directed at cases where a genuine arguable point has been raised.

After your form NG and grounds of appeal are received by the Criminal Appeal Office, the Registrar arranges for relevant trial transcripts to be obtained. Transcript production can itself add weeks or months to the timeline. Once all material is assembled, a single judge reviews the papers in private and either grants permission, refuses it, or grants it on limited grounds.

If the single judge refuses permission, you have 14 days to renew the application to the full court, a panel of two or three CACD judges who will reconsider the papers. If the full court also refuses, the conviction stands, though the CCRC route remains open in appropriate circumstances.

Success rates at the permission stage vary significantly by year and by case type. Industry observers note that the overall grant rate is modest, reflecting the deliberately high threshold. However, the outcome is always case-specific: strong fresh evidence or a clear legal error can dramatically improve the prospects. The Law Commission’s criminal appeals consultation paper has examined whether the current permission test operates fairly and has provisionally recommended reforms to the way the CCRC’s referral threshold interacts with the court’s permission criteria.

The “Unsafe Conviction” Test and the Criminal Appeal Act 1968 Framework

The statutory framework for criminal appeals from the Crown Court is set out in the Criminal Appeal Act 1968. Under this Act, the Court of Appeal must allow an appeal against conviction if it considers the conviction to be “unsafe.” This single word, unsafe, is the legal test that governs every conviction appeal heard by the CACD.

A conviction may be unsafe for a range of reasons, and the court will look at the overall fairness and reliability of the trial process. The concept is deliberately broad, but in practice, most successful appeals fall into a small number of recognisable categories.

Common Grounds for Appeal Against Conviction in the UK

• Legal error by the trial judge. This includes incorrect rulings on the admissibility of evidence, errors in summing up the law for the jury, or wrongly allowing or excluding witness testimony. If the error was material, meaning it could have affected the jury’s verdict, the conviction is likely to be considered unsafe.
• Jury misdirection. If the trial judge gave the jury incorrect or misleading directions on a point of law (for example, on the mental element of the offence, or on how to treat identification evidence), this can render the conviction unsafe even if the factual evidence against the defendant was strong.
• Fresh evidence. New evidence that was not available at the time of trial, such as forensic advances, recanted witness statements, or alibi evidence that has only recently come to light, can form the basis of a successful appeal. The court will consider whether the evidence is credible, whether there is a reasonable explanation for its late emergence, and whether it would have affected the jury’s verdict.

The grounds for appeal against conviction in the UK must be set out clearly in the form NG submitted to the Criminal Appeal Office. Poorly drafted grounds are one of the most common reasons for refusal at the permission stage, which is why specialist legal advice is strongly recommended.

Missed Deadlines, Can You Appeal After 28 Days?

The 28-day time limit for applying for permission to appeal a Crown Court conviction is strict, but it is not absolute. Courts retain discretion to extend time and accept late applications where it is “in the interests of justice” to do so. That said, late applications face an uphill battle, and the court will want to see a compelling explanation for the delay.

If you are applying outside the 28-day window, consider the following practical steps:

• Explain the delay clearly. Set out in writing exactly why the application could not be made within 28 days. Common reasons include: not having been advised of appeal rights at sentencing, difficulty obtaining legal representation while in custody, or waiting for trial transcripts.
• Show the merits are strong. A late application is far more likely to succeed if the proposed grounds of appeal are arguable and well-evidenced. The stronger the case on paper, the more willing the court will be to overlook the delay.
• Get specialist legal help immediately. A solicitor experienced in criminal appeals can assess whether an extension application is viable and prepare the paperwork properly. The Prison Reform Trust’s plain-English guide to appealing against conviction or sentence provides useful practical information for people in custody who may have limited access to legal advice in the critical first weeks after sentencing.
• Consider the CCRC as an alternative. If the court refuses to extend time, the CCRC may be the appropriate route, particularly if there is new evidence or a new legal argument that was not available at trial. There is no filing deadline for a CCRC application.

In some circumstances, judicial review may also be available, for example, if there is a challenge to the lawfulness of a procedural decision rather than the conviction itself. However, this is a specialist area and should only be pursued with qualified legal advice.

CCRC Application Route, Timescales, Thresholds and Likely Outcomes

The Criminal Cases Review Commission is the statutory body responsible for investigating suspected miscarriages of justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It has the power to refer cases back to the Court of Appeal if it identifies a “real possibility” that the conviction would not be upheld.

There is no prescribed form for a CCRC application, and no filing deadline. You can apply at any point after your conviction, provided you have first appealed through the courts (or can explain why you have not). The CCRC’s own guidance states that the time taken to review a case depends on its complexity: straightforward reviews may be completed in a matter of weeks, while more complex investigations, particularly those requiring fresh forensic analysis or extensive witness inquiries, can take many months or longer.

When preparing a CCRC application, focus on what is new or different. The Commission is looking for material that was not considered by the trial court or the original appeal, for example, new scientific evidence, previously undisclosed documents, or evidence of procedural irregularity. Applications that simply restate arguments already rejected on appeal are unlikely to succeed.

If the CCRC does refer a case back to the Court of Appeal, the referral is treated as a fresh appeal. The CACD will then hear the case and can uphold the conviction, quash it, or order a retrial. The Law Commission has been examining whether the “real possibility” threshold for CCRC referrals should be reformed, and its provisional recommendations suggest potential changes that could affect the volume and nature of referrals in the future.

What to Do Now, Immediate Practical Steps and Checklist

Time is critical in criminal appeals. Whether your case is in the magistrates’ court or the Crown Court, the following checklist will help you protect your position:

• Note the exact date of sentencing. Your filing deadline runs from this date, not from the date of the guilty verdict if sentencing happened later.
• Request the full trial transcript. Contact the court or your trial solicitor as soon as possible. Transcript delays are one of the biggest causes of avoidable hold-ups in the appeal process.
• Contact a solicitor who specialises in criminal appeals. Appeals require different skills from trial advocacy. Look for a practitioner with specific Court of Appeal or CCRC experience. You can search for a criminal appeals lawyer through our directory.
• Gather any fresh evidence. If there is new material that was not available at trial, forensic results, witness statements, documentary evidence, collect and preserve it now.
• Log all dates and correspondence. Keep a careful written record of every step, every deadline, and every communication with your legal team and the court.
• Apply as soon as possible. Even if you are still assembling your grounds, it may be better to file within the 28-day window and refine the grounds later than to miss the deadline entirely.
• Consider the CCRC if court routes are closed. If your appeal has already been refused, or if you are outside the time limits, the CCRC may still be able to help, but seek legal advice first.

2026 Reform Signals, Law Commission and Courts and Tribunals Bill

The criminal appeals landscape in the UK is under active review. The Law Commission’s criminal appeals project, which includes a detailed consultation paper, has examined the full range of appellate procedures from the Crown Court to the Court of Appeal Criminal Division and the role of the CCRC. Among its provisional recommendations are potential changes to the CCRC’s referral test, the permission criteria used by single judges, and the way grounds of appeal are drafted and assessed.

Separately, the Courts and Tribunals Bill 2026, which was the subject of a parliamentary call for evidence in March 2026, contains proposals that could affect the structure of appeals from the magistrates’ courts to the Crown Court, as well as wider questions about judge-only trials and the allocation of cases between court tiers. Early indications suggest that some of these proposals, if enacted, could streamline appeal routes and reduce waiting times, though the legislative timetable remains uncertain.

For anyone currently considering an appeal, the practical advice is clear: do not wait for reform. Act on the law as it stands today, meet the current deadlines, and use the existing procedures. If the law changes in your favour after you have already filed, your legal team can adapt accordingly. Delaying in the hope of a more favourable future regime risks missing the 28-day window entirely.

Conclusion, Act Now, Even While Reform Is on the Horizon

Understanding how long does a conviction appeal take in the UK is the first step toward protecting your rights after a criminal conviction. The current system imposes tight deadlines, 21 days for magistrates’ court appeals, 28 days for Crown Court appeals to the CACD, and missing them can severely limit your options. While the CCRC provides a safety net for cases involving new evidence or possible miscarriages of justice, it is not a substitute for acting promptly.

With the Law Commission actively reviewing criminal appeal procedures and the Courts and Tribunals Bill 2026 progressing through Parliament, the landscape may shift. But the prudent course is always to work within today’s rules. Obtain your transcripts, draft your grounds, and connect with a specialist criminal appeals lawyer as early as possible. Every day matters.

Last reviewed: 19 June 2026

Sources

1. GOV.UK, Appeal a Crown Court Decision
2. Crown Prosecution Service, Victims’ Guide: After the Trial (Appeals)
3. Criminal Cases Review Commission, Things You Need to Know
4. Law Commission, Criminal Appeals Project
5. Law Commission, Criminal Appeals Consultation Paper
6. Courts and Tribunals Bill 2026, Parliamentary Call for Evidence
7. Prison Reform Trust, Appealing Against Your Conviction or Sentence