Judges under pressure

Increased family work has placed “great strains” on family judges, the lord chief justice, Lord Judge, has warned.

His report, Review of the Administration of Justice in the Courts, published last week, covers matters of importance to judges arising in the 2008-2009 legal year.

Delays caused by “limited resources and mounting delays of Cafcass” are “inevitably increasing and represent cause for concern” he reports.
“Despite the production of the president’s interim guidance in an effort to assist this problem, this trend seems unlikely to be reversed.”
He said there were still concerns about the pressure on the Administrative Court, particularly through the volume of asylum and immigration work which accounts for about two-thirds of all judicial reviews.

However, the burden may be eased by the new administrative courts in Manchester, Cardiff, Leeds and Birmingham. Early indications were encouraging, he said, and cases lodged outside London now accounted for 10% of the court’s work and were increasing.