Magistrates’ courts are not sitting enough but legal advisers are quitting HM Courts & Tribunals Service for better paid jobs in local government or the Crown Prosecution Service, a government official has revealed.

All criminal cases begin at the magistrates’ court, with the most serious criminal matters sent to the Crown court. However, latest quarterly data showed the Crown court backlog reach another record high by the end of last year, with the backlog in the magistrates’ courts up 14% from the previous year.

Discussing the backlog at a Westminster Legal Policy Forum conference yesterday, HMCTS operations director Daniel Flury said the magistrates’ courts are not sitting enough but ‘we do not have a sufficient number of legal advisers in HMCTS’.

Some 161 new legal advisers were recruited last year but Flury said it takes 18 months to get them fully competent. ‘We have a high attrition rate. The pay scale rates are lagging behind other government departments. We do not have parity with the CPS in particular,’ Flury said.

Magistrates' Court sign

HMCTS operations director Flury said the magistrates’ courts are not sitting enough

Source: Alamy

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Asked by Transform Justice director Penelope Gibbs if pay rates for legal advisers can be increased, Flury said legal advisers are paid a specialist allowance. The allowance has increased from £1,000 to £2,000 for legal advisers in training, and from £2,000 to £4,000 for ‘fully fledged’ legal advisers.

Flury said: ‘That’s been welcome but it’s not enough to achieve parity with the Government Legal Department or Crown Prosecution Service. That’s the sort of thing we need to aim to. Pay is a convoluted process in the civil service but we’re making the case for further increases, but I cannot say where and how just yet.’

Asked by Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames KC how big an increase is needed to ease the recruitment strain, Flury said: 'In terms of the magistrates' court, we can get them in the door - the trick is making them stay. We recruit, we train, they become fully fledged legal advisers, then they go on to roles elsewhere better paid, whether the local authority or CPS. The challenge is not outreach but a competitive salary, within London and the south east in particular, for legal advisers to think "I'm suitably paid and [can] build a long career in HMCTS".'