"Civil justice unaffordable for most Brits"
UK’s most senior judge says civil justice is unaffordable for most people across England.
In his annual report to parliament, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd said litigants in person are increasing and judges whose pensions have been cut feel under-appreciated.
He praised the government’s commitment to spending a huge money to modernize the justice system but delivered a gloomy report on courts conditions in England and Wales.
“Our system of justice has become unaffordable to most… In consequence there has been a considerable increase of litigants in person for whom our current court system is not really designed. Although in common with many other European states the number of court buildings has been reduced through closure, the failure to invest has meant that many of the courtrooms have not been modernized and lack modern means of communication to provide for better access to justice,” he said.
Thomas also said that judges are upset with increasing burden of their work saying: “For example, they are having to handle an ever-increasing quantity of challenging and emotionally-charged cases in family and crime, as well as an increase in litigants in person.”
“Although judges recognize that they are well-paid in comparison to most people, static pay … and adverse alterations to pension arrangements … have had a significant impact. In addition, there has, overall, been a widespread feeling of not being valued or appreciated for their work,” he added.
According to a recent survey, 77% of judges with leadership responsibilities felt their work had increased significantly in the past three years, and that they were having to deal with an increasing number of complex matters in addition to their daily court sittings.
“Since the victory of the Conservative party in the latest general elections, the legal system has been most affected by the government policies,” a London-based analyst Marcus Pagadopoulos told Press TV.
The Publisher and Editor at Politics First went on saying that the legal field in the UK has been limited over the past years, adding vulnerable groups of the society particularly the poor can not easily take a legal case to the courts.
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