20 Nightingale courtrooms remain open to boost capacity

These temporary courtrooms, across nine venues, will continue to be used by judges to hear cases ranging from shoplifting to family proceedings and small claims hearings. The majority of the courtrooms will be open until March 2025.

Nightingale Courts were first introduced in the pandemic to temporarily provide additional space for hearings, and since then the government has decided to retain this extra capacity to provide speedier access to justice and so that victims “have their day in court” as soon as possible, says the Government press release.

The Nightingale Court locations that have been chosen to remain open in England and Wales have been identified where they can help reduce the number of local outstanding cases, support maintenance projects by hearing cases when nearby locations are temporarily closed or to make full use of judicial capacity in court areas where there are more judges available.

Justice Minister, Mike Freer, said:

“People who break the law must face justice and ensuring these 20 extra courtrooms remain open in 2024 will do just that.

Crown Courts are already dealing with the highest number of cases than at any point since 2019. We want to keep making progress and deliver swifter access to justice.”

It is important to note that their are civil and family law cases being held in these Nightingale Courts as well.

The announcement marks the fourth year of the use of these temporary courts, which were first used during the pandemic and to help with court backlog. More widely, the government is investing £220 million for essential modernisation and repair work of the buildings across the two years to March 2025, minimising disruption which can be caused by unplanned maintenance work.

The temporary courts opening for another year are: