Judges get their biggest rise in 10 years – and there’s a lot more to come
JUDGES were handed their biggest pay rise for nearly a decade yesterday – with the prospect of much more to come.
Ministers approved an immediate increase of two per cent, backdated to april – enough to add £3,631 to the £181,566 salary of a High Court judge.
and Lord Chancellor David Gauke promised to give ‘careful consideration’ to major increases of up to 60 per cent recommended by a special review of judicial pay.
The bumper rises – revealed by the Daily Mail earlier this month – would mean 32 per cent on the pay of a High Court judge, taking his or her salary up by £60,000 to £240,000.
The report by the Senior Salaries Review Body said judges have lost trust in the Government and feel betrayed because of cuts to their pension scheme. It said too few lawyers are ready to make the financial sacrifices required to take up a judicial job at present pay rates.
On average, it reported a lawyer who has accepted the £181,566 salary of a High Court judge was earning £554,822 a year in private practice.
and the report blamed the Government for making judges feel unloved and exposed to criticism ‘without the political support for the rule of law and the legal process that they were entitled to expect’.
Mr Gauke said the two per cent pay rise approved yesterday was ‘the biggest for judges in nearly ten years.’ However, it fell short of the 2.5 per cent called for by the review body.
The Lord Chancellor added: ‘This is in line with the pay awards announced recently for other vital public servants. It has been reported that judges could be awarded sig- nificantly higher pay increases. This recommendation, along with many others, was made by the SSRB as part of a major review of judges pay, quite separate to the annual pay increase I am announcing today. no decisions have yet been made.
Judges at all levels are recruited from serving legal professionals. However, the difficulties filling vacancies have been described as unprecedented.