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Courts to sit for longer as extended opening hours revived in Beating Crime plan

Robert Buckland, the Lord Chancellor, is taking on the legal profession over extended court hours. (PA Wire)
Robert Buckland, the Lord Chancellor, is taking on the legal profession over extended court hours. (PA Wire)

The government is on collision course with the legal profession after reviving the idea of extending opening hours at crown courts in its ‘Beating Crime’ plan.

Judges will be allowed to run two separate jury trials in the same courtroom, with morning cases sitting from 9am to 1pm and afternoon trials being heard between 2pm and 6pm.

Lord Chancellor Robert Buckland has said pre-trial hearings in the crown courts can also start to take place outside of traditional court hours, being conducted entirely remotely in a move that is said to benefit lawyers with caring responsibilities.

The controversial extended hours scheme will cause fury among lawyers who have repeatedly rejected the idea several times in the past.

The decision warranted just a single line in the official 50-page ‘Beating Crime’ plan, published by the Home Office on Tuesday morning: “We will support temporary changes to court operating hours where the local judge wants to use this to hear more cases.”

However the Ministry of Justice issued fuller details of the proposals, saying it will be left to individual courts to decide if they want to adopt the scheme.

“Judges will have the option to open court rooms for longer under new ‘Temporary Operating Arrangements’”, the MoJ said.

“The measure – which would be completely at the discretion of independent judges – enables a court room to run two lists, one in the morning and one in the afternoon instead of the standard 10am - 4pm hours.

“It follows successful pilots in Crown Courts in Liverpool, Cardiff, Kingston-Upon-Hull, Portsmouth, Reading, Snaresbrook and Stafford, which saw more cases flow through each week.

“It is designed so that no individual would be expected to work any longer than they currently do.”

The government wanted to start extended court opening hours in January, but the move was shelved when the Criminal Bar Association wrote to the Equality and Human Rights Commission suggesting it would amount to discrimination in the workplace.

Previous moves to introduce a similar scheme stalled as lawyers argued the work they do outside court hearings was not being considered, and longer hours would disproportionately affect barristers who have childcare duties.

In November last year, the Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett of Maldon said the extended hours pilot had only made a “modest contribution” to increasing the work courts could handle, and he said the success of it “depends very much on the nature of cases”.

In its announcement, the MoJ said 32 Nightingale Court rooms, which have been set up during the pandemic to temporarily boost capacity in the justice system, will be retained until at least April 2022, while courts are set to reopen hearing rooms which had to be closed due to social distancing measures.

“I’m delighted that we can begin to carefully reopen more of the courts estate – increasing capacity significantly to deliver swifter justice for victims”, said Mr Buckland.

“We’re also giving judges greater flexibility to open courts for longer and move more hearings online, while extending the leases of Nightingale Court rooms which have been crucial in helping reduce delays during the pandemic.

“Alongside our plan to have no limit on the number of days Crown Courts can sit for this year, we are pursuing every available option to ensure the justice system can build back stronger as quickly as possible.”

It is expected that around 60 Crown Court rooms which have been closed down in the last 16 months will be reopened by September, with Snaresbrook, Southwark, and Isleworth in the first tranche.

In January, Criminal Bar Association James Mulholland QC said: “We opposed Extended Operating Hours when it was first mooted several years ago as being a discriminatory working practice that would, ultimately, destroy the independent criminal bar.”

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