Court system ‘close to collapse’ after closures
FORMER attorney general Dominic Grieve has warned that the UK court system is “very close to collapse” after years of being “chronically underfunded”.
When asked about the mounting backlog in courts, Mr Grieve, who has returned to practice as a barrister, told Times Radio: “It’s a disaster and it’s one that’s been building up for a very long time.
“I’m afraid we have a justice system which is chronically underfunded. It was quite well-funded until the early 1990s, and since then, as departments have seen their budgets go up, it has been consistently underfunded ever since, with occasional little palliative leaps when things have got very bad.
“The consequence is it’s no longer able to deliver the service.
“So, there is a very big issue here, and one which some government is going to have to grapple with, because it’s very close to collapse.”
His comments come after more than two in five courts have closed since 2010, leaving the majority of Parliamentary constituencies without an active court, research has suggested. Industry body the Bar Council, which represents barristers in
England and Wales, said the public will “lose confidence” in the judicial process if quick and efficient access to the courts continues to be frustrated. Its research supports the latest data on the mammoth backlog of cases at criminal courts.
Mark Fenhalls QC, chairman of the Bar Council, said: “The closure of hundreds of courts over the last decade means that people must travel further and for longer, and waiting lists and backlogs have grown.
“If people cannot access justice quickly and efficiently, the public will lose confidence that the law will help them resolve family, property, and financial disputes.”
The Bar Council’s research said there have been 239 court closures in England and Wales in the last 12 years, meaning just 57% remain open.
This includes criminal courts such as crown and magistrates, as well as family, county and any other court that does not fall under the “criminal” category. It said there are currently 373 parliamentary constituencies without an active local court, including in the constituencies of the Justice Secretary Dominic Raab, and the justice minister Victoria Atkins. There are 200 parliamentary constituencies with an active local court, meaning 65% of England and Wales is not covered, the Bar Council said. Of the 239 closures, 162 were for criminal courts.
Latest figures from the HM Courts and Tribunals Service show there were 358,076 outstanding cases at the magistrates’ court, and 58,271 outstanding cases at the crown court, as of April 2022. Criminal barristers are expected to be balloted this week for potential action amid concerns over legal aid funding and workload. The watchdogs for prisons, probation, police and prosecutors last year warned the “unprecedented and very serious” court case backlog posed the greatest threat to the criminal justice system in England and Wales.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “All closed sites were shut because they were either underused, due maintenance work or too close to another. Our £1.3 billion investment to modernise courts means access to justice is no longer solely reliant on going to a court building, with thousands now using services or going to hearings online.”