For those who were able to take a summer break – welcome back.

The Bar Council is heading to party conferences this month and we will also be pressing for investment in justice as part of our submissions to the Chancellor’s Budget and Spending Review.

The need for significant investment across the system is urgent; the criminal and family justice systems are at the point of structural failure. The public disorder over summer has drawn much attention to the crucial role of justice in society.

The justice system itself has been woefully underfunded for more than a decade and desperately needs new investment. There are many challenges within the system including record court backlogs, over-crowded prisons, legal aid deserts, crumbling buildings, judge and court staff shortages, matched by shortages and burnout amongst publicly funded solicitors and barristers.

Prioritisation of investment in the justice system is needed to ensure it is sustainable and resilient going forward. There is almost universal recognition that the justice system is faltering as emergency measures, such as Operation Early Dawn, are having to be implemented.

Lord James Timpson, the prisons and probation minister, quoted in the Financial Times has said: ‘We inherited a justice system in crisis.’ The Director of Public Prosecutions, Stephen Parkinson, in The Times said that the criminal justice system ‘requires considerable investment’.

The Bar Council commends all those who took action to swiftly address the public disorder over summer and we recognise that if it were not for the excellence and commitment of the judges, staff, solicitors and barristers who work in the system, it would already be wholly discredited in the eyes of the public.

It is unfathomable that Lord Bellamy’s minimum financial recommendations have still not been implemented and the current financial settlement is utterly inadequate to meet the present needs and demand. An effective justice system relies on appropriately renumerating those responsible for its operation.

In August the Bar Council published a new report, The value of justice for all, alongside the Access to Justice Foundation. The report showed providing free specialist legal advice could save the government £4.5 billion for every half a million people who receive it. In 2023 free legal advice and support, at an average cost of £3,300 per case, saved the government £9,100 per case. This means that for every £1 the Treasury spent on legal advice, it saved the public purse £2.71.

The report also highlighted that in 2022/23, civil legal aid provision was £728 million lower in real terms than it was a decade ago and the funding gap in the free legal advice sector was identified as a major concern.

Investing in free legal advice would help to resolve problems earlier and mean fewer cases need to reach court. It would also help to bear down on the record backlogs and give people greater access to justice.

Justice should be seen and treated as a vital public service and one where the government can spend to save. The siloed approach to public investment by the Treasury, where each department is treated as in competition, needs to be departed from. Well-funded early legal advice is needed, investment in buildings and technology will save time, boost morale and is essential for the maintenance of the sector’s pre-eminent international reputation. Making sure fees are reasonable and fair for the work done will help to stem the exodus of legal professionals from publicly funded areas of law.

The cuts to justice spending overall have been a false economy. Every penny stripped from the justice sector increases costs elsewhere. For law and order to be effective and efficient, it must be backed by proper resources to cater for the further increasing demands. Access to justice is a right that no one wants to have to exercise. But, just like the health service, it is vital that it is available at the point of need.