Judges and non-legal members of courts and tribunals in the workforce
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Last updated 30 November 2017 - see all updates
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1. Main facts and figures
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6% of court judges who stated their ethnicity in April 2016 were from an ethnic minority group
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14% of tribunal judges and non-legal members of the judiciary who stated their ethnicity in April 2016 were from an ethnic minority group, roughly the same as one year earlier
Things you need to know
Judges and non-legal members of the judiciary are asked to record their ethnicity on a voluntary basis, and not all do so.
This adds a degree of uncertainty to the breakdowns by ethnicity. For court judges, this uncertainty is relatively high because ethnicity is unknown for 16% of them. For tribunal judges and non-legal members of the judiciary there is a lesser degree of uncertainty with the breakdown because of the higher number reporting their ethnicity.
The source of the data is a new electronic human resources system for the judiciary that contains data migrated from a number of existing systems, some of which has yet to be validated.
What the data measures
The data breaks down the number of judges (in courts and tribunals) in England and Wales by ethnicity. It does the same for judges and non-legal members of the judiciary in tribunals in England and Wales and additionally in employment tribunals in Scotland.
The data includes judges and non-legal members of the judiciary in tribunals administered by HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) as well as those in Wales that are not administered by HMCTS.
The ethnic categories used in this data
Judges are asked to place themselves within the 18 ethnicity categories corresponding to the 2011 census. Due to the small numbers of respondents, figures for publication follow 5 broad ethnic categories:
- Asian / Asian British/Chinese
- Black/African/Caribbean/Black British
- Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups
- White
- Other ethnic group
2. Judges and non-legal members by ethnicity
| Court/Tribunal | Asian | Black | Mixed | White | Other | Unknown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Court | 79 | 26 | 41 | 2,506 | 28 | 522 |
| Tribunal | 390 | 106 | 64 | 4,130 | 90 | 662 |
Download table data for ‘Judges and non-legal members by ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Judges and non-legal members by ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Judges and non-legal members of courts and tribunals in the workforce Judges and non-legal members by ethnicity Summary
This data shows that:
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the proportion of judges and members of tribunals from an ethnic minority is twice that of judges in courts, where ethnicity is known
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the largest ethnic minority group (excluding White ethnic minorities) in both courts and tribunals is Asian; this group make up 2.9% of judges in courts and 8.2% of members in tribunals, where the ethnicity is known
3. Methodology
Judges and non-legal members of the judiciary are asked to record their ethnicity on a voluntary basis.
Ethnicity is unknown for 16% of court judges. The percentage for tribunal judges and non-legal members of the judiciary is lower as more people from these groups reported their ethnicity.
The source of the data is a new electronic human resources system for the judiciary that contains data migrated from a number of existing systems, some of which has yet to be validated.
As with all large administrative data sources, some inherent inaccuracy may exist.
Suppression rules and disclosure control
None
Related publications
https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/publications/judicial-statistics-2016/
Further technical information
Data are derived from the staff admin system, representing held data as at the point when extracts were taken.
4. Data sources
Source
Type of data
Administrative data
Type of statistic
Official statistics
Publisher
Ministry of Justice
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
This data is used by ministers and officials in central government, the Judicial Appointments Commission and Judicial Office to develop policy on judicial diversity. It's also used by judges, lawyers and academics, and professional bodies such as The Bar Council, The Law Society, and The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives.
5. Download the data
This file contains the following: ethnicity, year, court type, value