The number of complaints against judges fell by a quarter last year to 1,672 from 2,147, according to the annual report of the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO).
However, there was a small rise in the number of sanctions to 55. Two judges and 13 magistrates were removed from office. Complaints spiked between April and June 2018, which was ‘unusual’ and ‘knock-on effects were felt for approximately six months’, the report states. The previous year’s trend of staff shortages at the JCIO continued through the 2018–19 period, with an average vacancy rate of three (20% of headcount), and there was a backlog of cases.
