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21 November 2024
Diversity, disparity and inclusion Practicalities of being a magistrate

Following the publication of our new position statement, Janet Lallysmith, our Training, Learning and Development Officer, explains why we feel half-day sittings should be available to all magistrates, and the benefits this would bring to the magistracy.

Magistrates

In March 2024, the Magistrates’ Association asked members to share their experiences and views of half-day sittings. Their accounts form the basis of our new position statement, which advances a case for half-day sittings being available to all magistrates – an arrangement that we feel would improve individual experiences for some magistrates and benefit the magistracy as a whole.

Currently, benches across England and Wales take different approaches to accommodating half-day sittings – where magistrates hear cases for half the day (typically the morning or the afternoon session) instead of sitting for the whole day. Some permit them as a matter of course, but others do not. This inconsistency means that some magistrates, for example those who are employed or who have caring responsibilities, a need for childcare, or other commitments, cannot sit for half-days – making it impossible for them to maintain minimum sitting requirements.

Magistrates who cannot fulfil this obligation are expected to resign. This obviously affects the magistrate themselves, as they are no longer able to do something that they enjoy and would want to keep on doing. But the loss of a trained magistrate – and their experience and commitment – also affects their bench, their MA branch and their colleagues.

As one member told us:

“I was appointed at a time when half-day sittings were available and accepted (1990). If it had not been possible for me to do half-day sittings, I would not have been able to have become a magistrate and serve for over 34 years.”

It’s important that magistrates of all ages have the flexibility to sit half-days, or to choose not to as their circumstances change. For example, a younger magistrate with a baby or young children may benefit from half-day sittings to accommodate childcare, but as they get older and their children become more independent, they may be able to – and want to – sit full days. Maybe at some point they change job and it becomes harder to work full days again. And perhaps later in life they take on caring responsibilities for an aging parent or partner – again perhaps, half-day sittings would help.

It seems discriminatory that someone who wants to continue to sit as a magistrate, and who could otherwise give many decades of service to the bench and their community, might not be able to do so, purely due to a lack of flexibility in allowing half-day sittings.

We also know from our members responses to our survey, that there is considerable regional variation, which becomes, especially challenging when a magistrate moves from an area where half-day sittings are permitted to one where they are not:

“I sat for half-days on my old bench but when I moved, my new bench told me this wasn’t possible.”

Flexible working practices that recognise people have different and changing needs, are commonplace these days. Our position statement recommends that arrangements for sitting magistrates are brought in line with this now standard practice. The flexibility to request half-day sittings, either all the time or occasionally, would expand the pool of people able to apply to the magistracy, or remain in the magistracy as their life changes. It would also enhance magistrates’ capacity to pick up short-notice requests to sittings which, in turn, would improve the efficiency of the magistrates’ court.

To find out more about half-day sittings and our views on them, please read our position statement.

 

Photo credit: © Philip Wolmuth