England: Flexible operating hours pilot to go ahead in civil and family courts

The UK government dropped its proposals for early starts and late finishes in the criminal courts after the Bar of England and Wales warned it would threaten recruitment, retention and the well-being of criminal barristers.

However, pilots will still go ahead in two civil courts (Manchester and Brentford) and one family court (Manchester), where the courts will be open from 8am until 7pm in a bid to accommodate more court users. Participation in the pilots will be voluntary and nobody will be required to work outside normal court hours.

However, Andrew Walker QC, chair of the bar, said he was still concerned about “the wider implications if the pilots lead to more permanent arrangements, even if these are limited and restricted to only a few courts”.

He added: “For these reasons, we shall be pursuing our concerns about the types of case that are suitable, even for the pilots, and will be monitoring the pilots very carefully indeed.

“We will also continue to press for rigorous, independent evaluation which captures all of the impacts on everyone involved, as we have already been doing through our two existing barrister representatives on the evaluation advisory group, Kate Brunner QC and Fiona Jackson.”

Frances Judd QC, chair of the Family Law Bar Association, said: “We intend to work closely with the Bar Council and to monitor the pilots carefully, in particular as to the effects upon family barristers who are already working to capacity, and often have to travel considerable distances to court. We are assured that there will be an independent evaluation, to which we will be invited to contribute.”