In brief
Low pay and staff shortages could risk bringing about a real collapse in the civil justice system, according to Judge Paul Collins, London’s most senior county court judge. Judge Collins told the BBC this week that serious errors are commonplace and blames the mistakes on cuts in staff numbers and low pay. “Staff in the court service are among the poorest paid of all government departments,” he said. In his court in central London, the number of people employed has been cut from 125 in 1992 to just 80. “We are operating on the margins of effectiveness, and with further cuts looming we run the risk of bringing about a real collapse in the service,” he stressed.
