State of the courts—leaky, freezing and with dodgy WiFi

At Birkenhead, ‘half the building has fallen down and the other half is closed due to asbestos’. One Brighton solicitor said: ‘The standards of cleanliness, access to drinking water, heating/air conditioning and physical infrastructure are appalling. Bio security is haphazard or non-existent. Access to internet is not reliable.’

These and other findings are included in a devastating report on the state of court buildings and infrastructure in England and Wales, 'Justice delayed: 5 steps to resolve the backlogs in our courts', published this week by the Law Society. Two-thirds of solicitors responding to a survey have experienced delays in cases being heard in the past 12 months due to the physical state of the courts.

The steps set out in the report are: first, invest in repairing buildings and recruiting enough staff and judges to help prevent delays; second, properly fund legal aid by raising civil rates for the first time since 1996 and implementing the recommended 15% rise in criminal rates; third, fund legal aid for early advice and bring back legal aid for advice on housing, debt, welfare benefits and family law, as this stops large amounts of cases going to court.

Fourth, the Law Society report suggests installing reliable technology to drive efficiency and only rolling out tech once it is known to be reliable—only 13% of respondents in London felt technology was fit for purpose. Solicitors report not being able to link to the network, the sound being too low, and tech experiencing glitches or not working at all.

Fifth, the Law Society calls for better data collection throughout the courts to show where investment or interventions are needed, particularly on the impact of digital tech and remote hearings on justice outcomes.

Lubna Shuja, president of the Law Society, said: ‘The backlog in our Crown Courts stands at more than 62,000 cases, while care cases in the family court take on average 49 weeks to be dealt with.

‘Behind each of these statistics are tens of thousands of people caught in limbo, their lives on hold as they await their day in court.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service is aware the court estate needs fixing and urgently needs to put into practice the steps set out to make that improvement.’