Judicial System Faces Crisis in Judge Recruitment
The 2024 UK Judicial Attitude Survey (JAS) for England and Wales courts, coroners and UK tribunals led by the Institute’s Director, Professor Cheryl Thomas KC (UCL Faculty of Laws), found the number of salaried judges saying they intend to quit early within the next five years had risen from 400 (23%) in 2014 to 681 (39%) in 2024.
There are approximately 2,000 salaried judges in England and Wales courts and UK tribunals, and 94% of them took part in the survey.
It was the fifth time the survey – the only recurring study of the working lives of judges currently running anywhere in the world – had been run since the inaugural survey in 2014.
Separate surveys were done for judges in Scotland and Northern Ireland as those countries have separate judicial systems. The findings were broadly comparable to the England and Wales report, and the judiciary of England and Wales and UK tribunals represent 89% of all UK judges.
A total of 5,992 members of the judiciary (both salaried and fee-paid) responded to the England and Wales and UK tribunals’ survey. For the first time, the survey also asked all judges about their stress levels and physical and mental health.
Levels of stress were particularly high among Senior Coroners, 46 per cent of whom reported “extreme stress”, and Circuit Judges and High Court family judges, about a third of whom said the same.
Factors contributing to that stress included excessive workload, case management pressures, the type of evidence and the amount of screen time, which they have to deal with alongside fears for their personal safety, lack of administrative support, the poor state of the buildings they work in and a loss of earnings.
Professor Thomas said in the report: “Evidence in the 2024 JAS indicates a looming retention and recruitment crisis in the judiciary in England and Wales, with an increasing number of salaried judges intending to leave the judiciary in the next five years which outstrips the number of fee-paid judges considering applying for a salaried judicial post. Almost all salaried judges are appointed from those who are fee-paid judges.
“This comes at a time when courts are facing record backlogs.
“Judges in all three UK jurisdictions (England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) are deeply committed to providing an important service to society and they find great satisfaction in the intellectual challenge and public service of the job.
“But many judges are now working under extreme pressure with high workloads, in unacceptable building conditions, with little administrative support and growing concerns for their personal safety.
“Alongside increasingly difficult working conditions, judges have faced a decade of a continual loss of net earnings. Judges now feel an increasing loss of respect for what they do by society at large, and almost no judges feel valued by the government.
“After a decade this has, unsurprisingly, resulted in high levels of judicial stress.”
The report found that the factors most likely to prompt salaried judges to quit were increases in workload and limits on pay awards. “Higher remuneration and better administrative support would make salaried judges more likely to stay,” the report said.
The threat of judges quitting is the latest challenge facing the government as it grapples with lengthy court delays.
The backlog of cases in the crown court, which hears the most serious criminal cases, hit a record 73,000 at the end of September 2024. The backlog in the magistrates’ court, which hears over 90% of all criminal cases, is more than 300,000.
Court closures and infrastructure problems, alongside a shortage of judges and lawyers, have added to the pressure.
The UCL survey was discussed when England’s top judge, the Lady Chief Justice, Baroness Sue Carr, appeared before peers for her annual evidence session with the parliamentary Constitution Committee days after the survey was published, where it was described as “groundbreaking” and “world leading”.
The survey was commissioned by the Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales, the Lord President of Scotland, the Lady Chief Justice of Northern Ireland and the Senior President of Tribunals.
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/feb/judicial-system-facing-looming-crisis-recruiting-and-retaining-judges