Good evening, everybody. I'm very pleased to be with you this evening and to assist you with this important work.
I thought it would be helpful to set out some background to the U.K. commission's role, structure and powers, and the work we do within the British criminal justice system.
The CCRC—the Criminal Cases Review Commission—was established by Parliament in 1997, and we operate under the Criminal Appeal Act 1995. Parliament created us to be independent, in order to find and investigate possible miscarriages of justice and refer them to the appeal courts. We've been in existence for 26 years. In that time, we have looked at over 31,000 cases. In the same period, the commission has made 826 references to the appeal court, which equates to more than one case every two weeks and a historical average of around 31 cases a year. Around 70% of those references have resulted in convictions being quashed or, occasionally, sentences being reduced.
We're funded by way of an annual grant from the Ministry of Justice. Since 1997, our annual cash grant, taking account of inflation, has been £8.775 million. Last year, our grant was £7.28 million, so currently we're operating with funding that is 17% below the historical average.
Each year we get around 1,145 applications for review. We've seen a marked increase in past years following a move towards an easy-to-read online application form. The forecast for this business year is over 1,600 applications, and that's against a prison population in the U.K. of over 80,000. We don't have any queues or waiting times at the moment, but that position is very hard to sustain. We aim to conclude 85% of our reviews within a 12-month period. Recently we've been achieving that, but it's becoming more and more challenging. Obviously, more complex cases take longer, and reviews can run to one, two or even three years.
We submit an annual report with accounts to Parliament. Operational oversight is by a board chaired by Helen Pitcher and includes three independent, non-executive directors. We have around 120 staff, which equates to 101 full-time-equivalent employees. We have 11 commissioners to make decisions, and they constitute four full-time equivalents and are paid at day rates. Many, but not all, commissioners and casework staff are legally qualified.
We believe in a collaborative and multidisciplinary approach, so the organization includes people with legal and investigative skills, as well as specialists in forensic science and financial crime.
Parliament gave us a unique range of investigative powers. We can obtain material from any public body or private individual. We can order and direct police investigations when a case is particularly large. We have some other powers, including the ability to interview jurors under the direction of the court. We can review any criminal case, from the most minor offence to the most serious. We also cover the military courts.
We're a body of last resort, so individuals are usually required to have exhausted their appeal rights before they can apply to us. In exceptional cases, we can review a case even when there's been no appeal. That could include a case in which there's extreme vulnerability, perhaps through mental health. We can also deal with cases involving deceased persons if applications are made by their next of kin.
We can obtain files from police, courts, prosecution and defence, and we often see material from schools, social care providers, medical records and the security services. We can speak to witnesses, scientists, police officers and judges to understand what happened before, and we can order new tests on exhibits. We're the only body that can do this. We're the only body that can send a case for a second appeal. References are made on the basis of fresh evidence or new legal argument.
I'll wrap up there.