Justice system ‘running on empty’ and must be included in ‘levelling up’ agenda says Bar Council

The Bar Council has said that £2.48 billion is required to return the justice system to 2010 levels, amid pressures caused by “systemic underfunding, under-resourcing and increasingly complex criminal cases”.

The Council, which represents approximately 17,000 barristers across England and Wales, explained this in its submission to the Treasury’s ongoing spending review, ahead of the October budget.

Over a quarter of the Ministry of Justice’s budget was slashed over the past ten years The most recent criminal court statistics from September, showed the number of outstanding cases in crown courts had risen to over 60,000.

The submission says: a“[Legal services] in many areas… are running on empty and rely on the goodwill of those who work in the courts to keep them afloat. The reputation of the justice system domestically is under threat which, in turn, threatens our reputation as a leading international legal centre.”

In addition, the Bar Council, is calling on the Treasury to include justice in the government’s levelling up plans, and has recommended that more courts be opened, and that more judges, recorders (lawyers who sit part-time as judges) and magistrates are recruited.

According to The Law Gazette, Bar Council chair Derek Sweeting QC told a fringe event at the Conservative party conference that the government’s plans to recruit 20,000 new police officers and crackdown on sexual offending will be a ‘massive own goal’ if it is not combined with efforts to ensure the justice system is well-funded enough to cope with their plans.

£350 million was slashed from the previous £2 billion legal aid budget by the coming into force of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act in 2013.