Senior Judge Highlights ‘Drastic’ Court Conditions

England and Wales’ most senior judge informed Members of Parliament that the Conservative government had left the court system in a state of financial uncertainty until June, having not finalized its funding. Baroness Sue Carr, holding the position of lady chief justice, conveyed to Parliament’s Justice Committee that the criminal courts were in a “drastic” condition. She further stated that the preceding government had consistently neglected to provide funding punctually for the commencement of each new financial year. According to her, the current Labour government’s choice to impose financial limits on the amount of work judges could undertake would result in certain courts becoming inactive, even with unprecedented backlogs. Baroness Carr anticipated that these reductions would not yield any financial savings and were “distressing” for victims and all other participants within the judicial system. Baroness Carr’s observations regarding the condition of the courts are made as the system contends with unparalleled backlogs, totaling approximately 68,000 active cases in the Crown Courts. These backlogs stem from a confluence of intricate elements, such as the pandemic, but fundamentally originate from a prior decision to limit expenditure on justice. Addressing Members of Parliament on the bipartisan committee, Baroness Carr stated that the departing Conservative government had consistently failed to provide funding promptly and had not presented an offer for the 2024-25 financial year, which commenced in April, until June. She quoted, “The offer wasn’t made until June, and agreement was not reached until June.” She added, “The latest it has been agreed, I think, is possibly July, even August.” Baroness Carr further remarked, “In the last six years, so far as I’m aware, the concordat agreement has never been reached before the year itself starts.” Baroness Carr indicated that despite having sufficient judges available to preside over cases for 113,000 days annually, the new government had restricted their funding to 6,500 days below that maximum capacity. She stated, “The decision to limit us to 106,500 has, frankly, had a drastic effect across the board.” She elaborated, “Judges have had to take fixed cases out of their lists. They’ve all had to cancel bookings [of part-time judges].” Baroness Carr reported that the cases being eliminated from the court schedule encompass serious violence and sexual offences, with some of these potentially not being heard until after 2027. She explained, “The cases that are being taken out of the lists are cases that were ready to be heard before next April, so cases with judges, staff, courts, advocates, witnesses and complainants available.” She added, “Their removals are accompanied by long delays, sometimes years. This has been a most distressing time for witnesses, for police, CPS, advocates, court staff and judges alike.” Providing three instances of reductions from south-west England, she informed the MPs that Bristol Crown Court had taken “hundreds” of cases off its schedule, necessitated by the closure of 40% of its courtrooms weekly due to insufficient funding. In Taunton, only 60 court days would be accessible between January and March 2025 for trials requiring 265 days. Truro’s Crown Court, meanwhile, would be closed one day each week. She asserted, “This is not about saving anything.” She continued, “It is not about saving money. You are deferring the cost – and indeed you are increasing it.” “You are increasing it because inflation will mean everything costs more,” she explained. She further elaborated, “You are increasing it because barristers and the Crown Prosecution Service are going to have to redo the work they had done to be ready for trial, because the case will be stale.” “And that is not even to touch upon the acute social cost… particularly where [sexual offences] complainants simply don’t feel able to have confidence in the system anymore and walk away,” she concluded. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice responded by stating, “The new government increased the number of Crown Court sitting days to a total of 106,500 – more than in six out of the last seven years.” The spokesperson added, “While we are bound by a challenging financial inheritance, this government is committed to bearing down on the Crown Court backlog.” Furthermore, the spokesperson noted, “On top of increasing sitting days, we are extending magistrates’ court sentencing powers from six to 12 months, freeing up to 2,000 days in the Crown Courts to handle the most serious cases, and recruiting more judges.” The Conservative Party was contacted for a statement. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC bears no responsibility for the material on external websites. Information regarding our policy on external linking is available.