Judges and non-legal members of courts and tribunals in the workforce
Published
Last updated 21 February 2018 - see all updates
There is a new version of this page. View the latest version.
1. Main facts and figures
-
as of April 2016, 6% of court judges whose ethnicity was known were from the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups combined
-
14% of tribunal judges and non-legal members of the judiciary whose ethnicity was known were from the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups combined
Things you need to know
Judges and non-legal members of the judiciary are asked to record their ethnicity voluntarily.
16% of court judges, and 12% of tribunal judges and non-legal members of the judiciary, didn't record their ethnicity. This adds some uncertainty to the breakdowns by ethnicity.
The source of the data is an electronic human resources system for the judiciary that contains data imported from a number of other systems, and not all of the data has been validated.
What the data measures
This data measures:
- the number of judges in courts in England and Wales
- the number of judges and non-legal members of the judiciary in tribunals in England and Wales, and non-legal members of the judiciary in employment tribunals in Scotland
The data is broken down by ethnicity.
Tribunals are specialist judicial bodies which decide on cases ranging from workplace disputes to appeals against decisions of government departments (including benefits, and immigration and asylum). Most tribunal hearings are chaired by judges but often include specialist, non-legal members like doctors, accountants or surveyors.
The ethnic categories used in this data
Judges and non-legal members of the judiciary were asked to select one of the 18 ethnicity categories corresponding to the 2011 Census. The number of respondents was too small to draw any firm conclusions about specific ethnic categories. Therefore, the data is broken down into the following 5 broad groups:
- Asian/Asian British/Chinese
- Black/African/Caribbean/Black British
- Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups
- White
- Other ethnic group
2. Judges and non-legal members of the judiciary by ethnicity
| Court/Tribunal | Asian | Black | Mixed | White | Other | Unknown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Court judges | 79 | 26 | 41 | 2,506 | 28 | 522 |
| Tribunal judges and non-legal members | 390 | 106 | 64 | 4,130 | 90 | 662 |
Download table data for ‘Judges and non-legal members of the judiciary by ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Judges and non-legal members of the judiciary by ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Judges and non-legal members of courts and tribunals in the workforce Judges and non-legal members of the judiciary by ethnicity Summary
This data shows that:
-
the percentage of tribunal judges and non-legal members from the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups combined was twice as much as the percentage of court judges from the same ethnic groups
-
after White people, the largest ethnic group in both courts and tribunals was Asian – people from this group accounted for 2.9% of court judges and 8.2% of tribunal judges and non-legal members
-
these results should be treated with caution, because they exclude the 16% of court judges and 12% of tribunal judges and non-legal members whose ethnicity was unknown
3. Methodology
Judges and non-legal members of the judiciary record their ethnicity on a voluntary basis. The data is stored on an electronic human resources system for the judiciary.
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