I have had a look at my bank account and the Magistrates Association has just collected the annual direct debit of £34.50 that I have been paying ever since I joined the bench.
Look after it lads; that would buy a modest lunch for two or a bottle of decent malt.
I opted for the bottle last year and haven't regretted it for a moment (mind you, I seem to have spent all my subs up to 2078).
ReplyDeletebut you still benefit from the MA's actions over expenses, rather than the NBCF's inept performance and tacit acceptance a year ago.
DeleteIndeed. The NBCF's conduct was quite disgraceful.
DeleteI got a reminder from them recently and wrote back that I had no wish to waste any more of my money.
ReplyDeleteWent to their Council meeting yesterday and loss of membership was uppermost in their minds. Sadly to say the proposals for the future engagement of the membership that they have come up with just don't cut the mustard as was evidenced by the (almost) unanimous rejection by the assembled council members. Back to the drawing board then...
ReplyDeleteWatch this space!
I paid a life membership spread over 7 years as a covenant 30 years ago, which has saved me a fortune and means there is no point in resigning.
ReplyDeleteI wonder whether JPs would rather the interests of an independent magistracy were represented by a truly independent organisation, or by the NBCF (National Bench Chairmen's Forum). The latter's toadying to Government has lost it all credibility and respect amongst the magistracy at large.
ReplyDeleteI know a fair bit about the NBCF and I know several current members. To accuse them of toadying is unfair, untrue and offensive.
DeleteThe biter bit, eh.
Deletebut true nonetheless.
DeleteThe way the NBCF undermined the last but one round of negotiations over expenses was disgraceful, and was well evidenced at the time. It is fair to say that the current Chair, Eric Windsor, seems a very solid sort, and not out for personal kudos or self-advancement. He appears genuinely to seek to re-establish a sound working relationship between the MA as the membership organisation that most effectively represents the magistracy and the NBCF, which was set up "to give bench chairmen a voice" (though one might argue that unless they had swallowed their tongues, most have a pretty function voice already. The fact that HMCTS are their paymasters and pull all the shots clearly compromises any perception of real independence, antheatre view that past propinquity has left a legacy that will be difficult to leave behind is widely held. That being said, if as appears to be Mr Windsor's determined aspiration, the NBCF can reinvent itself in a more assertive mode, so much the better.
DeleteThe subs this year are really to a large exstant ment to pay for the new Chief Exec!
ReplyDeleteNot really, in fact quite the opposite in fact. Not only has the former Chief Exec left, but the Policy Director will be leaving in a few months, so savings will be made for a while at least.
DeleteLook what happened to justices' clerks as soon as they wound up the JCS as an independent entity. The Crombie compensation scheme was hastily dismantled and half of the remaining clerks will be pensioned off or reassigned to other jobs, along with whole swathes of their deputies.
ReplyDeleteIf what I have just read in the Times today (8th May) is anything to go by the MA will have mass resignations across the board due their their complete capitulation to the most ridiculous proposals ti hit the Magistracy since...ooh...about a year ago.
ReplyDeleteSouth London...absolutely. I am resigning forthwith.
ReplyDeleteYet again, the MA have come out on a policy that is not debated or consulted on. When did we say we wanted to sit in community halls? What will the parity be with DJs...will they do this? This is a policy for our colleagues with closed courts who want work...the result will be that DJs get the work and we end up in a lesser role. They just don't get it. Yes. Angry. Fed up.
If straightforward guilty pleas can be dealt with in one week by a lay magistrate sitting alone in the miners welfare. then the same case can be dealt with by one lay magistrate sitting alone in a proper court.
ReplyDeleteNEJP...has this been thought through? Are you saying you can do this without a legal advisor? There is no clarity on this being a 'proper court' - no clarity on anything but the MA giving some general concept support.
ReplyDeleteI do disagree with us sitting alone until we have a fit for purpose appraisal system instead of the cosy arrangements we have now - and mandatory training which we also do not have now.
Anonymous and NEJP - what this may of course lead to is a sort of 'superJP' ie those experienced enough and intelligent enough to handle matters on their own. I'm not saying I'm advocating this - I'm just saying this is what might happen. Let me be open though - I happen to be a Solicitor, a former CPS prosecutor a JP of over 18 years standing and an Approved Chairman. Do I feel capable of handling straightforward sentencing on my own? Actually yes, but that is not to say that would be true of most JPs.
ReplyDeleteI also don't think there has been any suggestion that this would be without the Legal Advisor being present Anon.
But the Times report says that we would be sitting in a personal, not a judicial capacity (!!!!) so why bother with a legal adviser?
ReplyDeleteI think that refers to sitting on neighbourhood watch committees and such like, not when sentencing. Sentencing is ALWAYS a judicial function (FPNs aside!!)
ReplyDeleteSouth London....this is the problem. Read the article and the MA are endorsing almost anything...the neighbourhood panels which would not be judicial...but also actual sitting in halls and doing work there. What kind of work is not clear or who would do it.It looks like a way to help colleagues in the rest of the country with little work but who knows? The whole article presents us as a sort of superior sort of Victim Support set of volunteers who get a bit of training and pop in...versus a parity with DJs who won't be going to community centres. Until the MA provide a proper position, its anyone's guess.
ReplyDeleteI entirely agree with you about the MA 'stance' - it is dreadful.
ReplyDelete