A comprehensive new survey of judges in England and Wales makes for worrying reading.
The 2022 UK Judicial Attitude Survey (JAS) published last month suggests that many judges are very concerned about the morale of court staff, and the physical state of court buildings.
The JAS, which is a continuous survey of the working lives of judges in the UK, attracted a very high response rate. An incredible 99% of salaried court judges, and 91% of the salaried tribunal judiciary, responded to the survey; as well as 67% of fee-paid court judges and 53% of the fee-paid tribunals judiciary. So the results should certainly be taken seriously.
Some of the most striking findings relate to working conditions. Almost two-thirds (64%) of salaried judges, and 37% of fee-paid judges, described working conditions as worse than in 2020, when the last survey was carried out.
Salaried judges are feeling under pressure, with 45% saying that their case workload over the last 12 months was too high (although this figure was much lower for fee-paid judges, at 9%).
Judges are also concerned about the morale of the court staff who support them. This was most marked among district judges, where the results were quite shocking. An extremely concerning 80% of district judges in the county courts, and 78% in the magistrates’ courts, rated the morale of the court staff they work with as poor or unacceptable. This figure stood at 68% for circuit judges, and 55% for employment judges. In the High Court, 38% of judges rated the morale of their staff as poor or unacceptable – a significant improvement on the lower courts, but still worryingly high. And even in the Court of Appeal, a significant minority of judges (21%) rated the morale of their staff as poor or unacceptable; although more positively, 52% of appeal court judges rated staff morale as good or excellent.
No doubt a contributing factor to the poor morale of court staff is the deteriorating state of the courts themselves – with lawyers’ pictures of peeling paint and leaky roofs now a common feature of the legal Twitterverse. Unsurprisingly, judges are also worried about the physical state of buildings.
Some 19% of salaried judges rated the ‘physical quality’ of court buildings as ‘unacceptable’, and another 27% rated them as ‘poor’. Regarding the level of ‘maintenance’ of court buildings, 21% of salaried judges found this ‘unacceptable’, and a further 35% described it as ‘poor’.
Overall, the survey paints a picture of a body of judges who feel a strong personal attachment to being a member of the judiciary; who feel they provide an important service to society; and who are satisfied with the challenge of the job. But it is very clear that they are being let down by the basics – with the state of the court infrastructure having a big impact on staff wellbeing, and in dire need of investment.
Let’s hope that the results of this comprehensive research will serve as a wake-up call that something really does need to be done about the state of our courts.
April 17, 2023
Insights
