More than two-thirds of full-time judges say they will quit within five years given their high workloads, lack of administrative support and concerns for personal safety.
The annual Judicial Attitudes Survey, compiled by the UCL Judicial Institute by Professor Cheryl Thomas KC, saw 60% of circuit judges – those on the crown court and civil benches – report that their workload was too high compared with the previous year.
About 75% of full-time judges said they were “extremely concerned” about staff reductions at their courts. Roughly 50% were similarly concerned about deteriorating conditions in the buildings.
According to the survey, 66% said that they were worried about “financial constraints in the justice system and the loss of respect for the judiciary by the government”.
Salary decline was also a major factor. For a decade, most salaried judges had experienced a loss of net earnings at two-year intervals.
It is thought that even more judges would consider leaving the system if they had viable options outside it: salaried judges have limited employment options because once judges take up a salaried post in England, Wales and Northern Ireland it is on the basis that they do not return to practice if they decide to leave the judiciary. Salaried judges in all three UK jurisdictions also cannot supplement their income with other forms of paid work.
Many of the problems facing the judiciary stem from lack of investment as Institute for Fiscal Studies figures this month have shown that the Ministry of Justice’s budget – which pays for the courts in England and Wales – had not returned to pre-2010 levels since sustaining a series of cuts owing to austerity regimes in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
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Morale was found to be lowest among district judges in county courts, where most civil claims are heard. More than 72% rated the morale of court staff as poor or unacceptable, while 45% said the morale of judicial colleagues was poor or unacceptable.
Bullying, harassment and discrimination on the bench remain a growing problem, the researchers said. Although they acknowledged that only a minority reported experiencing those phenomena, “there has been an increase since 2022”.
The report that the key factors contributing to judicial stress for salaried judges related to time, inherent aspects of judicial work and technology. The most frequently cited stress factors were judges’ lack of personal time due to judicial workload (58%) and difficulties achieving a reasonable work-life balance (53%).
On the lowest tier of the tribunal, full-time judges have salaries of about £106,500, while circuit court judges earn more than £167,000.
Senior High Court judges are on salaries of about £225,000, appeal court judges earn £256,000.
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