Britain’s court backlog will “get worse before it gets better”, a minister has admitted, as the government seeks to ease the “dire” state of the criminal justice system.
David Lammy has pledged to fix the UK’s broken judicial system in an overhaul which will include digital modernisation, lifting a cap on court sitting days and the scrapping of jury trial cases that would have a jail sentence of three years or less.
The government hopes the reforms, which are expected to be implemented by 2028, will curb a spiralling backlog within the UK’s justice system.
Justice minister Sarah Sackman KC said the government would need to do “nothing short of throwing the kitchen sink” at the system in order to cut the backlog, but admitted things will “get worse before they get better”.
"Things get worse before they get better, but they do begin to get better by the end of this parliament under this plan,” she said.
“By my reckoning, this will hit 100,000 cases before we begin to see a reduction in the backlog but I’m very candid about that.”
The current case backlog stands at 80,000, with modelling predicting this will hit 100,000 next year and 200,000 by 2035 if no reforms are implemented.
Ms Sackman KC said: “Those are big numbers and each and every one of those cases there is a victim, there is a defendant, there are lives put on hold and the situation is absolutely dire.”
Ministers have said that while there is “no silver bullet”, they are hoping three “pillars” – reform, investment, and modernisation – can tackle the backlog.
If all elements are implemented, modelling predicts the backlog will be at 83,000 by end of parliament, before falling below 50,000 by 2035.
Ms Sackman KC said: “We are putting victims at the centre of everything we do…but I have got to level with victims. The scale of the crisis that we inherited, and which is growing, is not going to change overnight but we are pulling every lever.
“By the end of this parliament they’ll start to see (it) heading in the right direction, so they can have confidence that the government is doing everything it can. But it will take the best part of a decade for their trials to improve and I fully appreciate that is not good enough for victims who are in the system in the here and now.”
Part of the reforms will see the limit on the number of crown court sitting days being lifted after the government and judiciary agreed a £2.7b settlement for courts and tribunals for 2026/27, up from £2.5b last year.
A further £287m will also be invested into fixing the crumbling court estate.
Victims commissioner Claire Waxman suggested that removing jury trials could help in getting convictions in rape cases.
“Victims often find, in front of the jury, that there's a lot of myths and stereotypes deeply entrenched in society, and that plays out in bias and stereotypes that can impact their case as well.”
She said she is “comfortable” with ending ancient rights.
“We can't stay in the past. The criminal justice system is very different from 1215, so we have to keep up to speed with that. We can't leave victims waiting for justice for five, six or seven years in the criminal justice system.”
The justice secretary also gave a speech at the Microsoft AI Tour in London on Tuesday where he backed digital modernisation across the courts system, including greater use of AI.
Mr Lammy resisted calls from Labour MPs over demands that the restriction of jury trials should have a “sunset clause” arguing “fundamental change is needed”.
Addressing the issue, Lord Brian Leveson, the retired judge whose report has led to the reforms, said: “Changing the threshold where you get a jury trial changes the culture and the dynamic of advice to clients who are always going to plead guilty at some stage.”
He added: “The deputy prime minister mentioned that cases are taking twice as long, and you've got to ask whether shoplifting should allow trial by jury. When I was a young Barrister in the 1970s, that's now when he was just born, I would frequently do two trials in a day. No trial takes less than a couple of days.”
As part of sweeping reforms, Mr Lammy previously unveiled plans to scrap juries in so-called either-way cases that would have a likely jail sentence of three years or less.
They include offences such as burglary, threats to kill, affray and theft. Serious offences, including murder, robbery, grievous bodily harm and rape, will still go before a jury.
David Ford, chairman of the Magistrates Association, was disappointed that Mr Lammy failed to address reforms in the magistrates courts which will be taking on more cases.
Admitting to “frustration” he welcomed extra money but added: “It also needs to be about recruitment of magistrates, retaining magistrates, and getting legal advisors. We lose so many.”
He warned that the number of magistrates alone needs to increase by 50 per cent from around 14,000 to 21,000 in the next few years.
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