Bar Council requests investment in local court systems ahead of spending review

With people in the Midlands and the North of England in “dire need of early legal advice”, the Bar Council has called for the government to invest in local court systems ahead of today’s spending review.

“Levelling up is a key government commitment to help communities, particularly in the Midlands and the North, and to reduce regional inequalities”, the Bar Council said in a paper to the Treasury.

Non-means-tested legal aid should be made available for all domestic abuse cases and people with social welfare issues should have access to early legal advice to help meet the levelling up agenda’s goals, the Bar Council explained.

According to figures from the representative body, there is a “major” backlog of cases in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, but no Nightingale courts have been set up in these counties to deal with the backlog.

Chair of the Bar Council Amanda Pinto QC said: “Many people in the North and Midlands are in dire need of early legal advice to help them resolve issues such as housing, debt or unemployment. In the long run, this early advice saves the government money and resources across several ministries. The sooner we can stop cases snowballing, causing further delays to the court system and cost and misery to the people involved, the better.”

The national magistrates’ court case backlog is 489,226 and the Crown court backlog is 51,595 cases as of 25 October, according to the Law Gazette.

Chair of the Criminal Bar Association James Mulholland QC explained that the government “risks a state of anarchy” if the justice system receives no investment.

Mulholland said: “The criminal barristers upon whom government relies to prosecute and defend are leaving because they have no choice: they are unable to pay their household bills or make their tax payments. Government does have a choice and it is a political one: spend and ensure that justice is done; or don’t spend or worse, cut again, and risk a state of anarchy.”