Dwindling number of magistrates

9,000 magistrates need to be hired in the next ten years
9,000 magistrates need to be hired in the next ten years
STEVE MEDDLE/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

Magistrates are facing a recruitment crisis, with the need to hire another 9,000 in the next ten years “just to stand still”.

John Bache, chairman of the Magistrates Association, told The Times that there were now 16,000 magistrates in England and Wales, half as many as 20 years ago, and that half would retire in the next decade.

He said more magistrates were retiring than were being appointed and 56 per cent of magistrates were over 60 and so would have to retire within the next ten years. He predicted that the new judicial statistics released today would show a further fall to 15,000.

He said the danger was that increasingly benches would have to sit two rather than three magistrates, which could cause problems