The UK government’s efforts to reduce the country’s criminal court backlog have been deemed unachievable by the National Audit Office (NAO). The increasing delays are not only affecting victims but risking cases collapsing. In England and Wales’ Crown Courts, there are about 67,573 misdemeanor cases waiting to be handled, even before the pandemic’s impact on court closures.
The Minister-led team in charge of resolving the situation should have met to address the crisis. However, the NAO uncovered that the group did not convene once in a two-year period. The number of cases waiting has escalated in recent times, worsened by a pay dispute that led to lawyers quitting or going on strike.
The UK Trade Union Congress (TUC) has indicated the situation has produced the longest delays in the legal system’s history, disproportionately affecting ethnic minority and poorer communities who cannot pay for private representation.
Ministers set a benchmark in October 2021 to reduce the backlog to 53,000 by March 2025, with the objective of hiring more judges and building temporary courtrooms. But, the NAO’s report shows that the backlog has increased, implying the target is unattainable. Officials project that the backlog could reduce to 64,000 by March 2025, but there is no formal target.
According to the report, one of the Criminal Justice Board’s main tasks is to ensure there is uniformity in problem-solving throughout the legal system. However, the Criminal Justice Board did not meet between July 2021 and July 2023. The NAO believes the lack of meetings could have assisted in the justice system’s recovery from the harm caused by the pandemic
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