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Magistrates’ courts have sentencing powers for only up to six months’ imprisonment for a single triable either-way offence, and only the Crown Court can hand down sentences beyond that. Between May 2022 and March 2023, the previous Government chose to extend magistrates’ court sentencing powers to 12 months. This enabled magistrates’ courts to retain more sentencing hearings and meant that they were heard more quickly. It also freed up capacity in the Crown Court to hear more complex cases. However, magistrates’ sentencing powers were then reduced back to six months when, having failed to address the capacity crisis in our prisons, the pressure on prison places became too great.