British judges get 2% pay boost

Judges in the UK will be given their biggest pay rise in a decade, the UK government has announced.

Lord Chancellor David Gauke MP revealed that the judicial officials will be granted an annual increase of 2%, in line with pay rises for other public-sector workers, including doctors and police officers. The hike is much less than the 32% hike reported earlier this month to be planned by the Ministry of Justice.

The hike, which came into effect on Friday and was backdated to April 2018, followed the annual pay review for 2018-19 by the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB). Earlier this month, reports were published saying that the ministry planned to increase judges’ pay by 32%.

On Friday, the SSRB recommended in a supplementary report about the judicial salary structure that High Court judges should be paid £240,000 (a 32% increase), circuit judges should be paid £165,000 (a 22% increase) and district judges should be paid £117,000 (an 8% increase).

The SSRB said that because of tax and pension changes net pay for a new high court judge is worth £80,000 less than it was a decade ago. The cut is £49,000 for a circuit judge and £29,000 for a district judge.

While lawyers join the judiciary because of a challenging job and because of providing a valuable service to the community, potential judges from the profession’s senior ranks are not applying in sufficient numbers.

“This situation requires urgent and effective intervention. It is generally accepted that the public sector cannot match the rewards for a top QC or solicitor. However, the judicial role needs to be made more attractive in order to recruit high quality legal professionals as judges,” the SSRB said.

Gauke said that the recommendations are being considered by the ministry, which will respond in full at a later date.

“Our independent judiciary is the cornerstone of the rule of law, and effective remuneration is critical to the continued attraction and retention of high-calibre judges,” he said.