Women make up only 25% of judges in England and Wales

The UK judicial system lags well behind the rest of Europe in terms of gender balance, according to a study of the relative efficiency of justice systems published on Thursday.

The report by the Council of Europe shows that women make up only 25% of judges in England and Wales – only Azerbaijan and Armenia had lower proportions.

Justice minister Shailesh Vara responded to the findings by saying: “This government takes judicial diversity very seriously and has taken steps to improve representation, while still appointing the best people for the job.

“We have introduced the equal merit provision, which allows diversity to be taken into account for appointments when two applicants are of equal merit; extended salaried part time working to make it easier to balance home and work life; and introduced a new statutory duty for the lord chancellor and lord chief justice to encourage judicial diversity.

“And we have already seen some positive changes, with women making good progress at the entry and middle levels of the judiciary, in fact between 2009 and 2013 women made up nearly half of all judicial appointments.

“But we recognise there is still more to do, which is why we will continue to work with all concerned towards a judiciary that reflects the society it serves.”

The Council of Europe study also reveals that British judges are the most highly paid in the European Union, and across the continent only those in Switzerland are paid more.

But the report shows that British prosecutors are not at the top of the international pay league: many countries reward their prosecutors with far higher salaries – equivalent to those of their judges.

While much of mainland Europe, including France, Spain, Italy, Holland, Denmark, Poland and Greece, have a majority of female judges, Britain has one of the lowest proportions of women on the bench. In Scotland, the proportion is only 21.6%. Azerbaijan, the only state with a worse gender balance has 10.5%.

The report, entitled European Judicial Systems: efficiency and quality of Justice, is produced by the Council of Europe, which has 47 member states.

The disparity in judicial income is stark in the highest courts. Based on data from 2012, the report shows that the 12 justices on Britain’s supreme court that year earned £202,000 (€256,206), nearly eight times average national gross earnings.

Judges on Switzerland’s final court of appeal were even better paid, receiving €294,565 – though that was only five times average national earnings. The lowest rewards for high judicial office in the EU go to Bulgarian judges who were paid a relatively modest €28,019.

Prosecutors in the highest courts in Britain are recorded as earning £87,637 (€111,027) a year, below the wages of those who do similar work in Switzerland, Spain, Monaco, Luxembourg, Italy, Belgium and Austria. Many continental jurisdictions have inquisitorial systems of justice rather than an adversarial system.

The study shows that while most states increased their budget for public prosecution and legal aid between 2010 and 2012, the British government cut funding significantly.

In terms of the cash spent per inhabitant, only Norway spent more than Britain on legal aid in 2012. The figures for England and Wales was €41.55 while the Europe-wide average was under €9 per person.

The total public budget allocated to legal aid in England & Wales was €2,350,470,057; the figure for France was €367,180,000 and Germany €344,535,431. Supporters of legal aid and the adversarial process in Britain point out that the inquisitorial system on the continent means that the cost of investigations fall more on judges’ budgets.