Judges and non-legal members of the judiciary
Published
There is a new version of this page. View the latest version.
- 1. Navigate to Main facts and figures section
- 2. Navigate toJudges and non-legal members of the judiciary by ethnicity section
- 3. Navigate toEthnic groups broken down by their judicial roles section
- 4. Navigate to Methodology section
- 5. Navigate to Data sources section
- 6. Navigate to Download the data section
1. Main facts and figures
- as at 1 April 2017, 6.7% of court judges whose ethnicity was known were from either the Asian, Black, Mixed or Other ethnic group
- among those whose ethnicity was known, White judges made up the highest percentage of both court and tribunal judges, at 93.4% and 89.8% respectively, followed by Asian judges, at 3.0% and 4.5% respectively
- 10.1% of tribunal judges and 16.3% of non-legal tribunal members were from either the Asian, Black, Mixed or Other ethnic group – these figures are roughly the same as those for 2016
- Asian members of the judiciary were less likely to be court judges, which requires a legal background (at 16.9%), than to be non-legal tribunal members, who tend to have a specific area of expertise (at 66.8%); in contrast, judiciary members with Mixed ethnicity were more likely to be court judges (at 39.8%) than to be non-legal tribunal members (at 31.6%)
Things you need to know
Judges and non-legal members of the judiciary are asked to record their ethnicity voluntarily. 17% of court judges, 7% of tribunal judges and 10% of 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.
Differences in the age profiles of judges and non-legal members of the judiciary make it difficult to compare their ethnic make up both with each other and with the general population. For example, as at 1 April 2017, 45% of all judges were at least 60 years old. According to the 2011 Census of England and Wales, people from ethnic minority groups make up a smaller percentage of the population as the population gets older.
Judges require a substantial legal background, while non-members of the judiciary usually have a specific area of expertise like medicine. There is no onward progression from being a non-legal tribunal member to a judge.
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
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 data is broken down by ethnicity and analysed in 2 different ways:
- the 1st analysis takes the number of people in each role (for example, court judges), and tells you the percentage of people in that role from each ethnic group
- the 2nd analysis takes the number of people in each ethnic group (for example, Asian), and tells you the percentage of people within that ethnic group doing each role
The ethnic categories used in this data
Judges and non-legal members of the judiciary are asked to place themselves within the 18 ethnicity categories corresponding to the 2011 Census. The number of people studied 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 Judges | Tribunal Judges | Tribunal non-legal members | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | Court Judges % 2016 | Court Judges Headcount 2016 | Court Judges % 2017 | Court Judges Headcount 2017 | Tribunal Judges % 2016 | Tribunal Judges Headcount 2016 | Tribunal Judges % 2017 | Tribunal Judges Headcount 2017 | Tribunal non-legal members % 2016 | Tribunal non-legal members Headcount 2016 | Tribunal non-legal members % 2017 | Tribunal non-legal members Headcount 2017 |
| All | 100.0 | 2,680 | 100.0 | 2,611 | 100.0 | 1,757 | 100.0 | 1,653 | 100.0 | 3,001 | 100.0 | 2,799 |
| Asian | 2.9 | 79 | 3.0 | 78 | 4.4 | 77 | 4.5 | 75 | 10.4 | 311 | 11.0 | 308 |
| Black | 1.0 | 26 | 1.1 | 28 | 1.9 | 34 | 1.9 | 32 | 2.4 | 71 | 2.4 | 66 |
| Mixed | 1.5 | 41 | 1.5 | 39 | 1.7 | 29 | 1.7 | 28 | 1.2 | 35 | 1.1 | 31 |
| White | 93.5 | 2,506 | 93.4 | 2,438 | 89.9 | 1,580 | 89.8 | 1,485 | 84.3 | 2,531 | 83.7 | 2,344 |
| Other | 1.0 | 28 | 1.1 | 28 | 2.1 | 37 | 2.0 | 33 | 1.8 | 53 | 1.8 | 50 |
| Unknown | N/A* | 522 | N/A* | 523 | N/A* | 137 | N/A* | 133 | N/A* | 465 | N/A* | 328 |
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 the judiciary Judges and non-legal members of the judiciary by ethnicity Summary
This data shows that:
- as at 1 April 2017, there were 2,611 court judges, 1,653 tribunal judges, and 2,799 non-legal members of the judiciary whose ethnicity was known
- 6.7% of court judges whose ethnicity was known were from either the Asian, Black, Mixed or Other ethnic group; among tribunals, 10.1% of tribunal judges, and 16.3% of non-legal members were from one of these ethnic groups
- White judges made up the highest percentage of both court and tribunal judges, at 93.4% and 89.8% respectively, followed by Asian judges, at 3.0% and 4.5% respectively
- people from the Asian ethnic group made up 11.0% of non-legal tribunal members, making them the second largest group after White members (83.7%)
- 523 court judges (17%) didn't declare their ethnicity – this is a higher percentage than among tribunal judges (7%) and non-legal members of the judiciary (10%), and adds greater uncertainty to the figures for judges
3. Ethnic groups broken down by their judicial roles
| Court Judges | Tribunal Judges | Tribunal non-legal members | All | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | Court Judges % 2016 | Court Judges Headcount 2016 | Court Judges % 2017 | Court Judges Headcount 2017 | Tribunal Judges % 2016 | Tribunal Judges Headcount 2016 | Tribunal Judges % 2017 | Tribunal Judges Headcount 2017 | Tribunal non-legal members % 2016 | Tribunal non-legal members Headcount 2016 | Tribunal non-legal members % 2017 | Tribunal non-legal members Headcount 2017 | All % 2016 | All Headcount 2016 | All % 2017 | All Headcount 2017 |
| Asian | 16.9 | 79 | 16.9 | 78 | 16.5 | 77 | 16.3 | 75 | 66.6 | 311 | 66.8 | 308 | 100.0 | 467 | 100.0 | 461 |
| Black | 19.8 | 26 | 22.2 | 28 | 26.0 | 34 | 25.4 | 32 | 54.2 | 71 | 52.4 | 66 | 100.0 | 131 | 100.0 | 126 |
| Mixed | 39.0 | 41 | 39.8 | 39 | 27.6 | 29 | 28.6 | 28 | 33.3 | 35 | 31.6 | 31 | 100.0 | 105 | 100.0 | 98 |
| White | 37.9 | 2,506 | 38.9 | 2,438 | 23.9 | 1,580 | 23.7 | 1,485 | 38.2 | 2,531 | 37.4 | 2,344 | 100.0 | 6,617 | 100.0 | 6,267 |
| Other | 23.7 | 28 | 25.2 | 28 | 31.4 | 37 | 29.7 | 33 | 44.9 | 53 | 45.0 | 50 | 100.0 | 118 | 100.0 | 111 |
| Unknown | 46.4 | 522 | 53.2 | 523 | 12.2 | 137 | 13.5 | 133 | 41.4 | 465 | 33.3 | 328 | 100.0 | 1,124 | 100.0 | 984 |
Download table data for ‘Ethnic groups broken down by their judicial roles’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Ethnic groups broken down by their judicial roles’ (CSV)
Summary of Judges and non-legal members of the judiciary Ethnic groups broken down by their judicial roles Summary
This data shows that:
- as at 1 April 2017, there were 6,267 White members of the judiciary, followed by 461 Asian members, 126 Black members, 111 members from the Other ethnic group, and 98 with Mixed ethnicity; ethnicity wasn’t known for a further 984 members
- Asian members of the judiciary were less likely to be court judges, which requires a legal background (at 16.9%), than to be non-legal tribunal members, who tend to have a specific area of expertise (at 66.8%)
- members of the judiciary with Mixed ethnicity were more likely to be court judges (at 39.8%) than to be non-legal tribunal members (at 31.6%)
- of the 984 members of the judiciary who didn’t declare their ethnicity, more than half (523) were court judges – therefore, compared with other judicial roles, there’s a greater chance that the percentage of the judiciary who were court judges is underestimated for some ethnic groups
4. Methodology
The data breaks down the number of court judges 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 in employment tribunals in Scotland.
If people have more than one role, only their primary role is included in the data.
The data includes tribunals that are administered by HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) and that fall within the responsibilities of the Senior President of Tribunals – this accounts for most tribunals in England and Wales, and a small number of employment tribunals in Scotland.
Data is extracted from the staff administrative system and represents the point in time at which the extracts were taken.
Judges and non-legal members of the judiciary record their ethnicity on a voluntary basis.
Rounding
Percentages are rounded to 1 decimal point.
Further technical information
5. 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 is 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.
6. Download the data
This file contains the following: ethnicity, year, court type, value