Every day, the Magistrates’ Association (MA) advocates on behalf of its members. Our national officers, together with our five policy committees and supported by our small staff team, cover a wide range of issues that matter most to our members and represent the organisation on external bodies. Here’s what we’ve been up to since our last update in May.
Change in government impacts criminal court reforms
As many will be aware, the UK saw a recent change in Prime Minister, with Andy Burnham replacing Kier Starmer in July. Along with Burnham came a cabinet reshuffle, including within the Ministry of Justice. Following David Lammy’s departure as Justice Secretary, Alex Norris was appointed to the role. Norris is a former trade union official and the fifth non-lawyer to have this office. Sarah Sackman has remained in post as Courts Minister, providing a degree of continuity for criminal court reforms. The MA has written to these ministers introducing our work – particularly our advocacy on criminal court reforms – and welcoming opportunities for collaboration in future.
The new Prime Minister moved quickly to address criminal justice issues. One of Burnham’s first interventions was to pause the prison early release scheme that had been introduced to ease capacity pressures across the prison estate. After launching an urgent review, Burnham announced that he would block early release of those with rape, child sex offences and grooming convictions.
Looking ahead, the Burnham Government’s longer-term plans for criminal court reform are not yet fully clear. However, the Prime Minister has signalled concerns about aspects of the Courts and Tribunals Bill, particularly proposals that would reduce the number of cases heard before a jury in the Crown Court. This could impact the proposal to extend magistrates’ sentencing powers which would see some cases previously heard in Crown Court put before magistrates. The MA continues to support this proposal and recently published a blog identifying the extension of sentencing powers as one of our key policy priorities, given its potential to improve court capacity and reduce delays across the criminal justice system.
Youth remand
Despite changes to the ministerial team at the MOJ, the focus on remand of children to custody remains a priority in justice. This was a focus in both A Modern Youth Justice System, which introducing funding reforms to better incentivise use of alternatives to custodial remand alongside additional spending on regional community projects providing an alternative to remand, and the recent white paper Cutting Young Crime, Changing Young Lives. The MA has been actively included in these discussions.
Our message is a simple one: youth magistrates only ever remand to custody as a last resort, and so the provision of credible, available and sufficiently robust community alternatives are the best way to ensure that use of custodial remand is kept to an absolute minimum. We think this is possible without legislative change, but we know from the white paper and elsewhere that there is appetite for changes to legislation.
We’ve communicated this message at every opportunity, including a roundtable with the minister and several conversations with the MOJ teams working on this focus. Members of our youth court committee also attended a remand conference in London last month, the only representatives of the magistracy there.
We’re continuing to be involved with discussions on youth custodial remand, and we’ll keep members updated on this evolving area. All of these discussions take place in the context of Prof. David Ormerod’s review of the youth criminal courts, and we’ll have more information for you on the review and MA’s contribution to that in future advocacy roundups.
Progress on Out of Court Resolutions
Earlier this year the MA released two position statements on out of court resolutions (OOCRs) – one addressing adult OOCRs and the other focusing on youth OOCRs. These statements recognised that OOCRs play a useful role in the justice system, but their use must not compromise open justice or judicial oversight – complementing, not replacing, the courts – and called for greater transparency and scrutiny.
The publication of these statements has prompted constructive engagement with key policing stakeholders, including the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC). Earlier this year, MA Deputy Chairs met with Commander Alison Heydari, the NPCC lead for OOCRs, to discuss shared priorities and explore opportunities for closer collaboration. Discussions highlighted a number of areas of common interest, including oversight arrangements, scrutiny panels and the relationship between OOCR decision-making and court sentencing.
The MA’s contribution to the national conversation on OOCRs continues to gain recognition. Most recently, we were invited to join other criminal justice stakeholders at a strategic planning session on OOCRs convened by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime. This reflects the growing influence of the MA’s work in this area and provides a valuable opportunity to ensure that the magistracy’s perspective is represented.
Our response to the Time off for public duties consultation
The MA recently contributed to the Time Off for Public Duties consultation. This consultation sought views on updating the statutory right to reasonable time off work for public duties – the first review since the right was introduced over 50 years ago. The consultation proposed to extend the entitlement to more groups, while removing eligibility for some positions.
Magistrates were highlighted as an important role of public service supported by the entitlement. We argued that the right for magistrates should be specified to cover 13 days to reflect the minimum sitting requirement. This would support effective participation in the magistracy, reduce barriers to recruitment and retention and promote representation and consistency. Read our consultation response.
Policy Special webinars
We hosted two special Policy Webinars for youth and family magistrates across June and July. These annual events are an opportunity for the respective policy committees to speak directly to members and update you on the work that’s happening on your behalf. The policy update section of both the youth and family webinars were recorded and can be viewed on MA Learn.
These events are also a brilliant opportunity to hear from members too. Both webinars involved attendees dividing into small breakout groups for discussion of three questions with their colleagues. These questions were selected because they either help current policy work or will inform the work that we do in future.
Those interested in contributing more to the MA’s policy work may also wish to consider involvement with one of the MA’s policy committees. Applications are now open and close on 23 August, with details of the role and how to apply is available on the website. For those who want a little more information, we’re hosting a webinar on 11 August where you can hear directly from committee chairs – register for that here.
Media coverage
In June, National Chair David Ford was invited on BBC Radio Wales to discuss the government’s ongoing recruitment of new magistrates and the support they will require amid planned justice reforms.
Later that month, the BBC reported that inaccessible courts are causing a number of issues for disabled people, including jurors feeling vulnerable, and lawyers having to join cases remotely despite being metres from the courtroom. The MA was pleased to provide information for the journalist, including our 2023 report Inaccessible Courts: A barrier to justice.
Also in June, outlets including the Independent, Sunday Express and GB News shared details of several MA members included in the King’s Birthday Honours list. As well as this, the MA’s Greater Manchester branch was featured on ITV News, as children from across the region gathered for the final of the annual mock trial competition.
Finally, the MA was mentioned in the House of Commons by Sarah Sackman on 30 June during justice questions. She said: “magistrates are the backbone of our justice system. I meet magistrates from across the length and breadth of the land, and I have met the Magistrates Association. We have to make being a magistrate more attractive. That is why our reform of their expenses, allowing for greater flexibility, is so important. We are transforming the application process and the training that magistrates receive to make it more attractive for people to volunteer their time. I want to put on record that we are incredibly grateful to our army of volunteers who keep the justice system going.”
In July, the MA published its latest report Open Data, calling for an open data approach to justice data in England and Wales. The report’s launch was covered by the Law Society Gazette, New Law Journal and the Police Oracle, among others.
