Page 83 - Judicial Diversity Update report

Court were confident that their personal circumstances would be recognised
and that they would be able to secure their preferred deployment on circuit (or
no deployment) if or when appointed to the High Court. Others were rather
unsure, and some questioned whether there was any structure in place to
guarantee or safeguard any deployment arrangement they would make upon
appointment.’ 175 The SSRB urged the judicial leadership to do more both to
communicate what has been done to accommodate flexible working and to
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consider developing these opportunities.

4.27. In response, the Government committed to introduce a revised part-time
working policy for salaried judges and to continue to work closely with the
judiciary and relevant agencies to raise awareness of flexible working
opportunities. 177 The Government noted that while salaried part-time working
is available to all salaried judicial office holders (with a few exceptions due to
statutory provisions), it has not been widely taken up, particularly in the
178
courts.

4.28. We are delighted that the JAC has supported flexible working, unless there
are good and specific reasons that it is not practicable. Similarly the judiciary
179
notes that “salaried positions… are increasingly open to part-time and flexible
working as well.” To develop confidence in this possibility it is important
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that more judges are appointed on a flexible basis. There has been modest
progress towards this, with our independent analysis finding that nine Circuit
judges – most of them women – were appointed on a salaried part-time working
basis over 2017-2019. We recommend that all advertisements make clear that
flexible working is possible.

175 Ibid
176 The SSRB report found a gap between the perceived availability of flexible working by potential
applicants and its feasibility in reality.
177 Ministry of Justice, Government Response to Report No. 90 by the Senior Salaries Review Body:
Major Review of the Judicial Salary Structure, June 2019, p.4 available at
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/806
480/government-response-ssrb-june-2019.PDF
178 Ibid, p.17
179 ‘Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) Diversity Update April 2019’, 2019, available online at
https://www.judicialappointments.gov.uk/sites/default/files/sync/news-documents/jac-diversity-
update-april-2019.pdf
180 ‘Becoming a judge’, Courts and Tribunal Judiciary, available online at
https://www.judiciary.uk/about-the-judiciary/judges-career-paths/becoming-a-judge/
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