Barristers’ strike pushed court backlog to 63,000

THE backlog of crown court cases soared to a new high of 63,000 during the criminal barristers’ strike.

Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett told MPs it fell to 58,000 this year following efforts to reduce the post-Covid case-load in England and Wales.

But during a walkout by legal aid-funded defence barristers, which ended last month, it topped last year’s peak of 61,000.

Lord Burnett, who heads the judiciary, warned it would be tough to meet a government target of 53,000 by March 2025.

‘Getting from roughly 63,000 to 53,000 in two and a half years will require a reduction which is going to be very difficult,’ he told the Commons justice committee.

The total of 63,000 came from ‘unaudited figures’ that had not been published, he said, adding that he was trying to recruit judges to reduce the backlog, but dilapidated courts put lawyers off the role.

‘I’m pretty sure that the degeneration of the physical working environment in many courts is having an impact,’ he said.

Courts have a £1billion repair backlog, and many buildings have broken heating, air conditioning and plumbing.

Former justice secretary Brandon Lewis ended the strike by offering an extra £54million in legal aid fees over two and a half years on top of a £135million-a-year package of increases revealed in March.