UK government to recruit 4,000 new magistrates in biggest court recruitment drive in 650 years
The UK government is set to recruit 4,000 new magistrates from all sections of society, in a bid to make magistrates courts more representative and cut the court backlog built up during Covid-19.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said its plan to launch the largest recruitment drive in the Magistrates Courts’ 650-year long history could see the total number of magistrates increase by a third in coming years.
The government said its £1m campaign will aim to attract new magistrates from a variety of backgrounds, as it called on anyone older than 18 to apply.
In a statement, the MoJ said the recruitment drive “seeks to make the magistracy more representative of the communities it serves and will specifically target younger people.”
As unpaid volunteers, magistrates are only allowed to claim for expenses and do not receive a salary. Magistrates are expected to commit to a minimum of 13 days in court each year.
The decision to expand the magistracy comes after the government last week doubled magistrates sentencing powers, in allowing them to hand prison sentences of up to a year.
At the end of last year, there were almost 60,000 cases waiting for a hearing Crown Court, according to figures from the MoJ.
Wait times for hearings crown court have also hit record highs, with those waiting for a hearing having to wait for an average of 251 days, whilst the rate of cases outstanding for more than a year hit a peak of 23 per cent.