Magistrates' Courts: Closures

(asked on 24th March 2025) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Magistrates Courts were (a) partially and (b) fully closed between 1 May 2010 and 1 July 2024, broken down by region.


Answered by
Sarah Sackman Portrait
Sarah Sackman
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This question was answered on 28th March 2025

The table below shows the number of Magistrates’ Courts that were permanently closed between 1 May 2010 and 1 July 2024, broken down by region. The figures do not include integrations, where workload remained in the local area by transferring to a building in close proximity, or courts that are temporarily closed.

Region

Magistrates’ Courts closed

London

19

Midlands

30

North East

19

North West

22

South East

32

South West

22

Wales

21

There are multiple situations that can require a court to be closed to the public for a temporary period of time. Reasons include, but are not limited to, severe weather disruption, building issues and disrepair, loss of utilities, and in response to security concerns.

HMCTS does not hold central data covering all temporary closures.

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