Deputy National Chair Sarah Clarke appears on BBC Politics East
Reforms to the criminal courts
It’s a busy period as the government announces major reforms to the criminal justice system.
Our National Chair David Ford was invited to give oral evidence to the Justice Committee on these reforms in January. In his evidence, he argued for the inclusion of two magistrates to sit alongside a judge in the proposed Crown Court Bench Division, emphasising the importance of maintaining the criminal justice principle of judgement by one’s peers. He also spoke on appeals from the magistrates’ court, the increase in magistrates’ sentencing powers and the importance of diversity in the magistracy.
Alongside oral evidence, we also submitted written evidence to the Committee. This highlighted the importance of a long-term comprehensive recruitment and retention strategy that not only sees an uplift in new magistrates, but also deals with the root causes of magistrates leaving prematurely – namely shortages of legal advisers, a lack of IT equipment, unfair expenses’ regimes and the poor physical state of court buildings. It also called for a holistic approach to investment in reform, from funding probation to legal advisers to prisoner transport services. Finally, we highlighted opportunities for transitional preparation as the magistrates’ courts take on an increased caseload, drawing the Committee’s attention to the magistracy’s proven track record in adapting to crises.
Alongside government proposals, the second part of Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts has also been published. Leveson focused his latest 700+ page report on efficiencies in the criminal courts. He highlighted how chronic underinvestment and the growing complexity of crime today has led to a record backlog of cases waiting to be heard.
In total, Leveson’s 180 recommendations were far-reaching in addressing systematic inefficiencies in the criminal courts. There was also a specific focus on magistrates, with Leveson emphasising how the magistracy has halved in the past twenty years. To help magistrates navigate this dense review, we pulled together a six-page brief specific to magistrates’ courts. Key recommendations to note are:
- Leveson urges the Ministry of Justice to address challenges in recruitment, particularly on the speed at which the recruitment process moves and how often it takes place.
- He calls for reform of the role of magistrates to free up capacity, including by reducing magistrates’ involvement in other voluntary roles, such as Advisory Committees and appraisal processes.
- Leveson proposes moving the power found in primary legislation detailing volunteer expenses into secondary legislation to allow more flexibility when making changes to magistrates’ expenses.
- He asks the Judicial Office to consider how best to recognise the contributions of magistrates, citing the example of a long-service medal.
The Interim Magistrates’ Executive Board
The Magistrates’ Association and the Magistrates Leadership Executive have come together as part of an Interim Magistrates’ Executive Board for the Senior Presiding Judge’s governance review. This will act as a national governance body to enable judicial oversight and decision-making. The aim is for this interim arrangement to become a full, permanent structure with regional and local level structures to follow. In the meantime, the interim arrangement will focus on development of new governance structures, strengthening judicial oversight of the operation of magistrates’ courts and the likely expansion of the magistracy’s jurisdiction. You can read our joint statement here.
Our response to the Sentencing Act
We welcomed the recent passing of the Sentencing Act but also cautioned that this needs to be treated as the beginning of a long process of implementation dependent on funding for the Probation Service. Commenting on the Sentencing Act, our Chief Executive Tom Franklin said, “We cautiously welcomed the Sentencing Bill back in September, but warned that magistrates would still need the discretion to impose short custodial sentences as a last resort. We’re pleased that it is specified in the Act that magistrates can refuse to suspend a sentence in exceptional circumstances relating to the offence or offender, as well as where there is a serious risk posed to the public.”
A focus on Youth
The new year has brought with it a concentration on the youth jurisdiction. In January, the Justice Committee opened an inquiry into youth custody to examine if the current custodial provision is meeting the statutory aim of preventing offending and upholding a child-first approach. The number of children in custody has fallen significantly over the last decade or so, from 5,000 to around 400. In this regard, it is very different to the adult jurisdiction. But that fall has seen two proportional increases: a greater proportion of children in custody on remand, and greater complexity in the needs of children in custody. Too many of these children are unsafe and insufficiently supported in custody, and the inquiry will consider the issues of violence, safety, disorder, education, and staffing which we know are present.
In 2025 alone, the recently-opened Oasis Restore Secure School was closed following an Ofsted inspection, HMIP highlighted issues within Young Offender Institutions (YOIs), the Government made permanent the decision to no longer place girls in YOIs following recommendations from Susannah Hancock’s review, the Children’s Commissioner reported on the educational journeys of children in secure settings, and the Howard League reported some children were being kept in cells for 20 hours a day. The inquiry is therefore both timely and appropriate, and the MA will be submitting evidence shortly.
This month also saw publication of the Government’s policy statement ‘A Modern Youth Justice System’. The statement covers three broad areas: funding, oversight, and custody. Funding for youth justice services (YJSs) is to be allocated in three-year grant awards, directly distributed by the MOJ. This is currently distributed by the Youth Justice Board (YJB). The statement goes on to outline a very new vision of the YJB, which was established in 1998 through the Crime and Disorder Act. A review of the YJB was already commissioned in 2024. As well as responsibility for the youth justice core grant transferring from the YJB to the MOJ, responsibility for the development of youth justice standards, monitoring of YJS performance, and strategic oversight and policy advice for the youth justice system will also be transferred to the MOJ. In the paper’s third area – custody – the Government makes additional funds available to local authorities for alternatives to custodial remand and pledges to invest in regional projects to delivery further alternatives.
The paper is clear, though, that there are further reforms to be announced in the Spring, which may include legislative changes. Since January, the MA has been in conversation with MOJ teams focussed on custodial remand and has responded to a consultation on potential adjustments to the youth sentencing framework. In both, we stressed two key points: that magistrates only ever remand or sentence a child to custody as a last resort and that the best way to avoid imposition of a custodial sentence/remand is through availability of robust, flexible community alternatives. We have also written to Jake Richards MP, Minister for Youth Justice, on these two points.
There is currently a real focus on the youth jurisdiction from Government and members can expect more announcements in the Spring. In the meantime, the MA remains in dialogue with the MOJ and others, advocating for a better youth justice system.
Media coverage
The government’s response to part one of Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts kicked off a busy period for the media team.We broadly welcomed the announcement, arguing that the proposals would help ensure speedier justice. National Chair David Ford, Deputy Chair Val Castell and CEO Tom Franklin did seven live or pre-recorded interviews for TV and radio between them on 2 and 3 December. We also issued a press release to the media, and had a quote from David Ford inserted into the government’s official press announcement too.
These, plus the interviews we did, resulted in an impressive 248 pieces of coverage for us across newspapers, online, TV and Radio, including in The Independent, Daily Mail, ITV News, The Times, Sky News, City AM and a huge number of local and regional publications across the country.
At the start of the new year, the Ministry of Justice launched its campaign to recruit 2,000 new magistrates in the coming year, with an emphasis on ‘everyday heroes’ from a diverse range of backgrounds. National Chair David Ford and Deputy National Chair Sarah Clarke shared our support for the campaign in interviews with BBC Wales, BBC Politics East, Times Radio, LBC, and others.
In early February, David Ford was interviewed on LBC News to discuss our reaction to Part 2 of the Leveson review. We also issued a press release, which was picked up by outlets including the Daily Mirror and The Independent.
