Ministry of Justice written question – answered at on 10 February 2026.
Toby Perkins
Chair, Environmental Audit Committee, Chair, Environmental Audit Committee
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many magistrates served in a) magistrate courts and b) family courts in each year between 2009 and 2025.
Sarah Sackman
The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice
Magistrates are the cornerstone of our long and established judicial System. The extraordinary voluntary commitment given by individuals across England and Wales, giving up their valuable free time to make a difference to our Justice system is incredible.
The earliest data we have is 2018, when we had a total of 14,008 magistrates. Currently, we have 14,466 magistrates sitting in crime and family.
Year | Total number of Magistrates - Adult | Total number of Magistrates - Family | Total number of Magistrates |
2018 | 13171 | 2880 | 14008 |
2019 | 12877 | 2752 | 13712 |
2020 | 12451 | 2881 | 13510 |
2021 | 11945 | 2839 | 13090 |
2022 | 11882 | 2926 | 13195 |
2023 | 11909 | 2967 | 13319 |
2024 | 12490 | 3489 | 14458 |
2025 | 12366 | 3554 | 14466 |
Yes1 person thinks so
No0 people think not
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
