HM Courts & Tribunals opened a further 16 civil and criminal courts this week, adding to the nine that opened in the past few weeks and the 159 that have remained open throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This represents 54% of the 341 court and tribunals buildings in England & Wales.
A judicial working group is also investigating suitable venues for ‘Nightingale’ courts, which would be temporarily housed in large buildings where social distancing is possible, for example, civic centres or university spaces.
Lord Burnett, the Lord Chief Justice, said: ‘Reopening all of the court estate, using additional accommodation and continuing to use technology imaginatively will enable us to return to and surpass pre-lockdown volumes, helping manage the growing caseload.’
However, Criminal Bar Association chair Caroline Goodwin QC said about 40,000 criminal cases are outstanding and this number is likely to rise to 51,000 by the end of June.
In this week’s Monday message, she warns the need to reduce the court backlog, along with the increased police force, means the courts will have to run at 125% of 2019/20 levels for the next three years in order to cope with demand. She called for more investment in the criminal justice system, and warned that more buildings are needed from which to run trials.
‘The backlog is on the increase and we have a toxic scenario where the strain on the court system as we know it is going to literally cripple us and unless something is done it is only going to get worse,’ she said.
‘The physical capacity of the court estate to handle the blindingly obvious, is simply not enough. I might add that this existed before Corona.’
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