Judges have had to work in ‘an increasingly challenging landscape’ in the past year, facing ‘inaccurate and unfair criticism, sometimes personal, with associated security threats’, the Lady Chief Justice has said
In her annual report, issued last week, Baroness Carr’s foreword notes that the Ministry of Justice has now committed capital funding to make courts and tribunals safer. Meanwhile, the new security taskforce led by Lady Justice Yip is working with police to improve protection and has launched digital security training for judges.
Baroness Carr highlighted ‘essential funding requirements’ in the civil and family courts and tribunals, including that ‘digitisation in the county court remains incomplete’. In the family justice system, however, the less adversarial Pathfinder courts have been ‘a resounding success’ with caseloads falling 50%.
