Diversity in the Judiciary: slow progress

The judicial diversity statistics were published on 12 July 2018. They are based in information as at 1 April 2018. The statistics show there has been further, albeit slow, progress in the appointment of women in judicial posts; there has been some progress, though less than for women, in the appointment of those from Black and Ethnic Minorities groups as judges. that:

29% of court judges and 46% of tribunal judges were female. 50% of non-legal members of tribunals were female.
Around half of court judges aged under 50 are female. Females outnumber males among tribunal judges at all age groups under 60.
24% of Judges in the Court of Appeal and in the High Court were female.
41% of Upper Tribunal Judges were female.
Since 2014 there has been a 5-percentage point increase in female representation among court judges.
8% of judges identified as BAME (7% of court and 11% of tribunal judges); non-legal tribunal members 17%
BAME representation among court judges aged 40 or over (98% of judges) was only slightly below that of the working age general population in each age band, while BAME representation among tribunal judges was higher than that of the working age general population at all age bands from 40 and over. Non-legal members have considerably higher BAME representation than that of the working age general population at all age groups.
A third of court judges and two thirds of tribunal judges are from non-barrister backgrounds.
More than half of magistrates were female (55%)
12% of magistrates declared themselves as BAME.
There were very few magistrates aged under 40 (4%) compared with 55% of magistrates who were aged over 60.

On 27 June 2018 (outside the period used for the report) the appointment of three Lady Justices and four Lord Justices of Appeal were announced. On 9 July 2018 the appointment of five High Court Judges were announced, three of which were male and two of which were female. These will be reflected in the statistics for 2019.

The full report is available at https://www.judiciary.uk/about-the-judiciary/who-are-the-judiciary/diversity/judicial-diversity-statistics-2018/

There are two major challenges relating to judicial appointments which have been aired recently.

First, there are concerns at the significant reduction in the numbers of Lay Justices who sit in Magistrates’ Court.

Second, there are concerns about unfilled appointments to the High Court, attributed to recent reductions in the pay and benefits associated with these appointments. This is an issue currently under review by the Senior Salaries Review Body. The outcome of the consultation is currently awaited. It was the subject of a recent speech given by the Lord Chief Justice.

See https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/major-review-of-the-judicial-salary-structure

The Lord Chief Justice’s speech is at https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/20180704-lcj-speech-mansion-house-speech.pdf