The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) has set up a new team within the organisation to lead three initiatives specifically responding to the need to improve judicial diversity. All three initiatives have been designed to work quickly and are running in addition to our ongoing diversity and outreach programme. We are now inviting potential candidates to take part in our first initiative – running a pilot programme of targeted outreach and search.
The Targeted Outreach and Research Team has been set up after the publication of the Judicial Diversity Forum (JDF)’s combined statistical report in September 2020. The first of its kind, the report provided a fuller picture of diversity in the judiciary, and the path to it, and is now being used alongside other assessments and evaluations to inform how we best bring about positive change. The new initiatives are part of our ongoing work to contribute to this positive change.
The three initiatives are:
- running a 2-year pilot programme of targeted candidate outreach for key court and tribunal roles
- overseeing research, analysis and stakeholder engagement on measures used successfully by other common law jurisdictions to improve judicial diversity – to better understand how these might be used in England and Wales
- ensuring we consistently convene ethnically diverse selection panels
Potential candidates who think they might be eligible to take part in the pilot programme are able to self-refer using our form.
It is our statutory duty to select candidates solely on merit and select only people of good character whilst having regard to the need to encourage diversity in the range of persons available for judicial selection. The work of the Targeted Outreach and Research Team directly supports this duty and help increase judicial diversity.
The small, senior team – distinct and separated from any selection processes – will concentrate on under-represented groups such as BAME, women, disabled people and solicitors. They will offer tailored advice and access to wider support.
You can read a full summary of all the actions that JDF partners are running in the Action Plan.
Find out more, including how to self-refer to take part in the Targeted Outreach pilot as a candidate, on the Targeted Outreach and Research Team page.