Apparently so according to a survey!
Nearly all judges in England and Wales believe that their working conditions have deteriorated over the past five years (according to the first official survey of judicial attitudes). According to 86% of judges who had held their post for more than 5 years, working conditions had worsened.
It appears that like any other legal or non-legal job, salary and pensions were a big player when it came down to discontent, and 75% of those respondents said they had suffered a loss in net earnings during the last five years.
This also lead to half of district, circuit and employment judges stating that they would pursue income/earnings from additional methods outside of court work if this existed.
A third of the judges said they would consider leaving their role in the judiciary early at some point in the next five years, but 83% said that higher pay would be a key factor in changing their mind.
It seems that no matter what job you are in, there is always disgruntlement amongst salary and pensions, but is this right?
One argument is that you know the rough pay scale when you take on a role, so why be disgruntled about it? However, as the cost of living increases is it fair that salaries remain the same or decrease?
I would love to know what you make of this.
Also is it fair to consider salary disgruntlement as poor working conditions? The article in the Law Society Gazette did not mention any other reasons why the judiciary consider they have poor working conditions aside from salary – so if you know of any others please do share.
Feel free to check out my two recent articles one on barristers working conditions (http://wp.me/p4pPCf-gn) and another one on judges being overworked (http://wp.me/p4pPCf-gp)
Article from Law Gazette – 16 February 2015
Rebecca x