LAWYERS have criticised as “counterproductive” plans to increase magistrates’ powers in an effort to reduce the backlog of cases facing courts.

Lower courts across England and Wales will now be able to impose jail terms of up to a year for a single offence, twice as long as the previous maximum, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) announced today.

The plans were first published in January as part of efforts to address the accumulation of criminal cases waiting to be heard, which was exacerbated by the pandemic.

Magistrates and legal advisers have been provided with training ahead of the change to ensure that they know how best to use the new powers.

The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) said that one of the biggest factors contributing to the backlog is the number of outstanding crown court trials, which are unaffected by any change to the sentencing powers of magistrates.

Many defendants who are charged with offences that can be tried by either a crown court or magistrates’ court will also choose a trial by jury in a crown court, meaning that, if they are convicted, the sentence would not typically be dealt with by magistrates, a CBA spokesperson added.

“We say this is counterproductive as many defendants opt for a crown court trial for either-way offences,” the spokesperson said.

The total number of outstanding cases across magistrates and crown courts stood at 432,899 in February, according to CBA analysis of the latest official data.