Your appeal / England and Wales
Appeals in England and Wales
Twenty-eight days to give notice, permission from the Court of Appeal, and the Criminal Cases Review Commission after that.
The time limit is 28 days
After a conviction in the Crown Court, you must give notice of appeal within 28 days of the conviction. You appeal against conviction with the permission of the Court of Appeal, called leave, or if the trial judge certifies the case within those 28 days.
After a conviction in the magistrates' court, you can appeal to the Crown Court, and the limit is shorter: 15 business days.
The Law Commission has proposed reforms, including a longer time limit. Those are proposals only. Today the limit is 28 days.
If you are in prison
Give Form NG, your grounds and any other forms to a prison officer. The court's own guide says, "The prison officer will do the rest for you." Easy Read forms exist for people without a lawyer.
What the court is asking
The court must allow the appeal if it thinks the conviction is unsafe. It decides that for itself. A quashed conviction counts as an acquittal unless the court orders a retrial.
Unsafe does not mean innocent. The test is about whether the conviction can stand, which is why compensation afterwards is much harder to win.
How an application moves
A single judge reads your application. If that judge refuses, you can renew it to the full court.
There is one risk to understand before renewing. Time spent in custody pending appeal normally counts toward your sentence, but the court can direct otherwise. The court's guide says it no longer makes these orders at the single judge stage, but that a person who renews a wholly meritless application to the full court is at risk, and that renewing on a lawyer's advice is no protection. It cannot make such an order where leave was granted or the case came from the CCRC.
If you are out of time
The Court of Appeal can extend the time, before or after it runs out. Your application must set out cogent reasons for the whole period of delay, and it goes in with Form NG.
If the only point is that the law has changed since your trial, you will need exceptional leave, which is given only if you would otherwise suffer substantial injustice.
Fresh evidence
The court can receive evidence that was not heard at trial, if that is necessary or expedient in the interests of justice. It looks in particular at whether the evidence appears capable of belief, whether it may give a ground for allowing the appeal, whether it would have been admissible, and whether there is a reasonable explanation for it not being called.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission
The CCRC is independent. It can refer a conviction back to the Court of Appeal at any time. It needs a real possibility that the conviction would not be upheld, because of an argument or evidence not raised before, and normally an appeal or a refusal of leave already behind you. Exceptional circumstances can displace those last two conditions, but the CCRC says they are rare, so appeal first.
Applying is free, a sentence cannot be increased because you applied, and you do not need a lawyer, though one is recommended for complex issues. A repeat application must contain something new. Reviews can take many months or even years. In 2025 to 2026 the CCRC received 1,841 applications and made 45 references.
A reference is not a win. Some referred appeals fail.
Paying for it
Advice and assistance on appeal is included in the Crown Court representation order. To ask for a lawyer at the hearing, tick the Representation Order box on Form NG. If a judge gives permission, the judge will normally approve funding for lawyers to prepare the appeal.
If your lawyer has advised that there are no grounds, you normally cannot get public funding to ask a different lawyer, though the court says that in rare circumstances, such as new evidence, funding may be possible. At the CCRC stage a solicitor may be able to get legal aid funding to help with your case.
Going to the Supreme Court
The Court of Appeal must certify a point of law of general public importance. Applications are made within 28 days.
Compensation
Compensation is available only in a narrow class of case. For a person convicted in England and Wales, a new or newly discovered fact must show beyond reasonable doubt that the person did not commit the offence. Applications are due within two years, with an extension only in exceptional circumstances. The Secretary of State decides. The European Court of Human Rights held in 2024 that this test does not breach Article 6(2).
The Law Commission plans a separate report on compensation and support for the wrongly convicted.
General information only, not legal advice. Do not rely on this page for a deadline in your case.