A court sitting on Saturdays and bank holidays more than usual in recent months has been struggling with delays due to a shortage of duty solicitors, a Legal Aid Agency consultation has revealed.
Consulting on duty cover at Preston Combined Court, the agency said Lancashire HMCTS had increased the number of court sittings on Saturdays and bank holidays due to more cases being listed for the weekend.
‘The current arrangement of allocating two duty solicitors to cover this is proving insufficient and has had a detrimental impact, causing delays with cases and the length of time to deal with detainees,’ the consultation document says.
The LAA wants three duty solicitors on hand for Saturdays and bank holidays, which would ‘allow for timely management of cases and minimise the time for which detainees are in custody’.
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Duty solicitors are currently allocated from the Preston, Chorley, Omskirk, South Ribble and Leyland rota. Noting a growing number of clients coming to court from other areas, the LAA wants to open up the rota to members of the Lancashire and Fylde scheme.
The government has uncapped Crown court sitting days for 2026-27 to tackle the record backlog. However, magistrates’ court backlog is also at a record high and the LAA’s latest consultation shows that more sitting days will struggle to translate into fewer delays without a healthy supply of lawyers.
The duty solicitor population has steadily shrunk over the years and figures published by the Institute for Government last year revealed that nearly half of the duty solicitor population were 55 and older.
The LAA’s consultation closes on 7 June.
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