Committee publication · Correspondence · 3 March 2026
Correspondence from The Rt Hon David Lammy MP, Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, dated 3 March 2026: Criminal Courts Reform
From: Justice Committee
Summary
On 3 March 2026, Lord Chancellor David Lammy responds to the Justice Select Committee's questions about the Government's criminal courts reform programme, introduced via the Courts and Tribunals Bill on 25 February. He defends the decision to deploy judge-alone trials in a new Crown Court Bench Division, outlines magistrate and judicial recruitment targets, details funding allocations (125,800 sitting days for magistrates' courts in 2025/26, rising to 131,000 by final year), and confirms the reforms are projected to reduce Crown Court demand by 20% (27,000 sitting days) by 2028/29.
Key findings
- Magistrates' courts will receive 125,800 funded sitting days in 2025/26, rising to 131,000 by the final year, with potential funding for up to 140,000 days if capacity is achievable.
- Government targets recruitment of around 21,000 magistrates by 2028/29 (currently 14,576 as of 1 April 2025); 2,907 new magistrates appointed between January 2022 and April 2025.
- A single judge will sit alone in the Crown Court Bench Division rather than a bench of one judge and two magistrates, due to time constraints in recruiting and training magistrates at necessary scale.
- The reform package is estimated to reduce Crown Court demand by nearly 20% (approximately 27,000 sitting days in 2028/29), enabling the system to reduce the open caseload and prioritise serious cases.
- Magistrates' sentencing powers will be extended via primary legislation to 18 or 24 months' imprisonment, with ability to vary further by negative statutory instrument; fraud and financial offences will be eligible for judge-alone trials, with around 25% of eligible cases conservatively estimated to be directed to this mode.
Tone
FactualTopics
Key actors
David Lammy MP, Andy Slaughter MP, Sir Brian Leveson, Minister Sackman, HH Geoffrey Rivlin KC, HMCTS, Crown Prosecution Service
Notable line
“"the system stands on the brink of collapse , " and so urgent government action is essential.”
Key Quotes
“… the system stands on the brink of collapse”
“… over 90% of criminal cases are already heard in the magistrates' courts – which equated to 1,430,639 cases disposed of in 2024 compared to 114,040 in the Crown Court. They are the backbone of local justice and keep the entire system turning.”
“A core principle of our reform programme is that decisions about mode of trial should rest with the court, not the defendant.”
“Trials by judge alone will run more quickly, leaving more time for the most serious crimes to be tried by a jury.”
“Behind every figure are real people whose lives are on hold as they wait for justice. All demand savings will help to create capacity in the Crown Court that can be used to hear the most serious cases.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗