Ring-fencing justice

Sir,

I have read your piece in which Chantal-Aimée Doerries QC questions why the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) does not have a ring-fenced budget. The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) agrees.

The latest Comprehensive Spending Review sees once again significant cuts to the MoJ's budget. While £700m has been granted to reform courts and tribunals, the overall budget will fall by 17 per cent by April 2020.

In reality, when inflationary pressures are taken into account, the reduction is that much worse. This is a cut of £1bn on the MoJ's current budget. This means a cut in the administrative and HQ budget of 50 per cent over the same period some £280m.

In terms of numbers in HMCTS, it is proposed to cut a further 6,000 posts taking overall staff numbers down to 11,000.

Linked to these cuts is the government's now closed consultation on the closure of a large number of courts and tribunals. Some towns and cities often in rural areas will, should the proposals go ahead, see their access to justice severely curtailed.

Most courts in the Greater Manchester Area, for example, will close if the government gets its way, with users expected to rely on a larger court in Manchester, temporary courts placed in halls, and/or video conferencing.

Officials of the court will be expected to travel further putting pressure on magistrates, prosecutors, defenders, police, prison officers, and others. This is bound to overload an already pressurised service.

PCS, the union that represents members across most of the areas in the justice system, is lobbying hard stop the court closures and the budget cuts. Our basic premise is that justice should be available to all and it must be accessible to ensure this.

Yours,

Tony Conway

PCS industrial officer for the law and justice sector

From the readers at Solicitors Journal: opinion on the issues that affect the future of the legal profession. Letters for publication should be sent to editorial@solicitorsjournal.co.uk. Please include name, address, and work telephone number. We may edit letters. Submission and publication of all letters is subject to editorial discretion.