St George's Hall will open as a Nightingale Court this week to combat the backlog created by the pandemic.
The iconic city centre landmark will open its doors as part of the government's plan to tackle the impact of coronavirus on the justice system.
Although the historic building did in fact serve as the city's court well into the 20th century, the new Nightingale courtroom will carry out non-custodial magistrate work, such as probation orders or community service orders – freeing up space for more jury trials at Liverpool Crown Court.
Nightingale Courts are one of several measures which have been introduced to ensure courts recover from the pandemic as soon as possible.
This follows a recent £80m investment in the courts system, to fund the recruitment of 1,600 new staff to support the recovery.
Courts Minister, Chris Philp MP, said: “I am grateful to St George’s Hall for joining the national effort to reduce delays and deliver speedier justice for victims.
“This is the latest step in our tireless work with the judiciary and legal sector in pursuing every available option to ensure our courts recover as quickly as possible.”
Alan Smith, General Manager at St George’s Hall Liverpool said: “We are delighted to be able to accommodate, support, and host HMCTS in the Crown Court of St George’s Hall.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, it is amazing how organisations have been able to adapt and cooperate to ensure that key services are supported.
“It is also fantastic to see the magnificent Crown Court of the Hall come to life again and perform its original function as a court.”
In total, 16 Nightingale Courts are now open nationwide, having been rapidly set up to alleviate pressure on the courts system. In total they provide an extra 29 courtrooms.
With more temporary Nightingale Courts and technology to boost capacity these measures are beginning to show positive results:
- Since August, Magistrates’ courts have been sitting on Saturdays, amounting to around 100 extra court sessions a month, dealing with thousands of cases.
- Magistrates’ courts are also now consistently completing more cases than they are receiving, reducing their outstanding caseload as a result.
- 250 Crown Court rooms will be available for jury trials in the coming weeks following the roll out of Plexiglass screens to more than 200 court rooms and 100 jury deliberation rooms.
- Portable jury rooms have been installed at Bradford, Hull, and Leeds Crown Courts for jurors to deliberate and will allow eight courtrooms to resume hearing trials.
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Liverpool Crown Court is also piloting new "covid operating hours" – increasing the number of hours that the court can be used for trials outside the standard weekday times of 10am – 4pm.
This temporary measure seeks to maximise HM Courts & Tribunal Service’s (HMCTS) own estate, while ensuring no one party would be required to attend court for longer. It is currently being evaluated.
Meanwhile, a major £153 million investment across the courts system announced in July will speed up technological improvements and modernise courtrooms.
