Government mulls £60,000 pay rise for judges

Theresa May faces uproar over plans to give judges pay rises of nearly £60,000 a year – an increase of more than £1,100 a week. A report commissioned by ministers has recommended a breathtaking 32% pay rise for high court judges. That would see their salaries go from £181,500 to £240,000.

The increases have been justified by claims of low morale within the judiciary because of long and stressful hours, and a need to compensate high earners for a series of tax changes to their pension schemes.

The combination has led to a recruitment crisis and a dramatic fall in the number of people applying to be high court judges.

But a pay hike of nearly a third for judges who already earn £30,000 more than the prime minister would spark fury among millions of public sector workers – including nurses, soldiers, teachers, doctors and prison officers – who were all forced to make do with rises of about 3% in recent months.

The recommendation from the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) comes at a critical time for May, just over two weeks ahead of a Budget that could raise taxes paid by millions of ordinary workers.

The review body’s conclusions were contained in a letter from the ministry of justice to Downing Street and members of the Cabinet earlier this week.

The letter, leaked to the Daily Mail, says the SSRB has ‘recommended the gross pay of a high court judge should rise to £240,000, backdated to April 2018 – an increase of 32%; that of a circuit judge to £165,000 – a 22% increase; and that of a district judge to £117,000, an 8% increase’.

It says the aim is to boost ‘recruitment and retention of judges’ and make up for pension cuts. Of the 1,840 judges in England and Wales, 97 are high court judges.

The SSRB recommendation will delight judges, who claim they are ‘overworked, disenchanted and demoralised’ – mainly because of their ‘low pay’. If they get the recommended £240,000, high court judges will receive £4,615 a week.

The ministry of justice – run by Justice Secretary David Gauke – made its official submission to the SSRB in March. In it, the department made a strong case for giving wealthy judges a big rise.

It said they deserved an ‘attractive’ pay deal as compensation for cuts to their public sector pensions and a tax raid on pension contributions of high earners – and to boost recruitment.