The figures date from the week ending 20 September.
Amanda Pinto QC, Chair of the Bar Council, said: ‘We have seen what lack of funding for law and order achieves―rising crime, but low detection rates; long delays to cases, with many collapsing before they get anywhere near a court; and all because government after government has failed to invest in justice.
‘Backlogs growing at the rate of thousands of cases per week can only be solved by sustained, proper investment right across the system.’
Law Society president Simon Davis called on the government to invest in legal aid for early advice and legal representation to help resolve cases where the defendant pleads, or where charges are dropped, to ensure judicial time is used as efficiently as possible.
Davis said: ‘The latest figures bear out our warning that after years of underfunding and cuts, there was already a significant backlog in the criminal courts, which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic
‘Justice is being delayed for victims, witnesses and defendants, who have proceedings hanging over them for months, if not years, with some trials now being listed for 2022. The Ministry of Justice and HMCTS should ensure that it is making maximum use of normal court hours and the existing court estate, quickly take up further building space and avoid any restrictions on judges sitting while there are court rooms (real, virtual or Nightingale) available.’
The Bar Council has produced a report showing successive cuts to law and order and how much funding is needed to return the justice system to where it was in 2010 before a decade of cuts began. View it at: bit.ly/3j7TwwN.
