Last weekend, I officially took over as the MA’s National Chair from Mark Beattie, having served as one of his two deputy chairs. I will be your National Chair for the next three years and I wanted to introduce myself and share my thoughts on where the Magistrates’ Association needs to be in 2028.
Firstly, a bit about me. I have been a magistrate since 1994, and sit on the Cardiff bench. I’m a mentor and appraiser, and a presiding justice in both the adult and youth courts in Cardiff. I have also been Deputy Chair of the Cardiff Bench, Youth Panel Chair, and member of the South Wales JTAAAC, and I’m also proud to be the MA’s first Welsh national chair since 1970. I live in south Wales, I’m married with two adult children, and in September we became grandparents to a beautiful pair of twins!
As well as being a time of change in my personal life, the magistracy is undergoing generational change. Many experienced magistrates will be retiring in the coming years, including hundreds who returned to the bench when the retirement age was raised to 75. And, to meet the growing need for magistrates and help tackle the backlog of cases in the criminal courts – both crown and magistrates’ – the Ministry of Justice has an ambitious target to recruit 5,000–7,000 new magistrates in the next few years. There are also the effects of the review of the governance of the magistracy, on which we are still advocating for members.
As I look back on the last three years as one of Mark’s deputies, and look to the next three years, there is much we can be proud of, and still much to do.
We have massively increased our media profile and for journalists we are a go-to organisation for comments on those areas that matter to magistrates. We are also listened to by ministers and MoJ officials as well as the senior judiciary, reflected in the government’s commitment to reviewing magistrate expenses and this year’s change to magistrates’ sentencing range.
We drove the conversation about Single Justice Procedure reform and proactively engaged with both the Independent Review of Sentencing, and the Leveson review of the criminal courts – meeting those responsible for those reports and advocating strongly on your behalf. This resulted in our key recommendations (more non-custodial options, resources for probation, flexible sentencing, and retaining short sentences as a last resort) being accepted and making it into the government’s new Sentencing Bill. We await the government’s response to the Leveson review, but were pleased with his recommendations that magistrates should take on more responsibilities.
The MA has also made strides in supporting our members and branches, through better communication with members, an improved member magazine, a new member support line, running a series of well-attended regional meetings, hosting dozens of relevant and interesting webinars, and the launch of MA Learn, a valuable learning tool for all members.
However, we also face challenges. Despite our external successes, membership of the MA is not growing at the rate we need it to, if membership subscriptions are to support the ongoing costs of our important work. To tackle this, we’ll be looking at four key areas:
- Membership: I want the MA to be an even more attractive option for non-members, to encourage them to join us. We must also make sure that what we offer to you, our current members, is what you want and need. And we need to attract and recruit as many as possible of the 5,000 to 7,000 new magistrates who are expected to join the magistracy in the next 3-5 years. For me, another important element of supporting membership is supporting our branches and the hard-working branch executive teams who keep them running.
- Our finances: the MA has been running operational deficits for a number of years now, subsidised by our reserves. While it’s OK to use our reserves in this way in the short term, it isn’t sustainable over the longer term, and although our recent subscription rises (after almost a decade of no increases), and the inflationary rises that will operate from now on, have helped a lot, we still need to do more to secure our future. We must constantly look at our expenditure and explore other ways to increase our income.
- Advocacy and stakeholder engagement: in our most recent member survey, 97 per cent said that the MA’s number one role is to speak up for magistrates to government, parliament and the senior judiciary. That will remain at the heart of everything we do, and we will continue engaging with the media, politicians, ministers, officials and the senior judiciary on your behalf. I will also ensure that we work with the Magistrates Leadership Executive (MLE) where appropriate – we have very different roles, us as the independent voice of the magistracy, and the MLE as advisers to the senior judiciary. I want to ensure that we maintain a balanced relationship with them, and that they do not duplicate our work.
As National Chairs have before me, I will have deputies to support me in my work as National Chair. I’m delighted that Jacqui MacDonald-Davis, who was my fellow deputy chair, is staying on, and will be joined by Sarah Clarke and Val Castell. Between them they have 64 years’ experience as magistrates, and I am honoured to have them alongside me. I am also pleased to have Robert Hawkins continue as our National Honorary Treasurer. As well as harnessing their considerable experience and expertise, I will work closely with our small but dedicated staff team, the board of trustees and our policy committees.
We face some challenges, but I am excited when I think about the opportunities that await the magistracy and the MA. With your support, I am confident that we can face the future with confidence. Please do get in touch with me if you have any questions.
