What magistrates do
Magistrates are volunteers who hear cases in courts in their community. Each case is usually heard by 3 magistrates, including a magistrate who is trained to act as a chairperson.
Criminal cases
All criminal cases begin in a magistrates’ court.
Magistrates pass the most serious crimes (for example murder, rape and robbery) to the Crown Court. Magistrates decide if the defendant should be:
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kept in custody - for example in a police or court cell
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let out on strict conditions - for example, to keep away from named places or people
Magistrates deal with crimes like:
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minor assaults
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motoring offences
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theft
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handling stolen goods
Magistrates can give punishments such as:
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fines
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unpaid work in the community
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prison for up to 6 months (or up to 12 months for more than 1 crime)
Civil and family cases
Magistrates also hear some civil and family cases involving:
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unpaid Council Tax
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TV licence evasion
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child custody and adoption
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taking children into care
Only experienced magistrates who have had special training can hear family cases.
Can you be a magistrate?
You need to give up some of your spare time and not everyone can serve as a magistrate.
Qualifications
You don’t need formal qualifications or legal training to become a magistrate.
You will get full training for the role, and a legal adviser in court will help you with questions about the law.
Age
You have to be over 18 and under 65. Magistrates must retire at 70 and are normally expected to serve for at least 5 years.
Health
You need to be able to hear clearly, with or without a hearing aid, to listen to a case. You also need to be able to sit and concentrate for long periods of time.
Personal qualities
You need to show you’ve got the right personal qualities, for example, that you are:
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aware of social issues;
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mature, understand people and have a sense of fairness;
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reliable and committed to serving the community.
You also need to be able to:
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understand documents, follow the evidence and communicate effectively
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think logically, weigh up arguments and reach a fair decision
Good character
It’s unlikely you’ll be taken on if you have been:
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found guilty of a serious crime;
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found guilty of a number of minor offences;
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banned from driving in the past 5 to 10 years;
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declared bankrupt;
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conflicts of interest.
You can’t be a magistrate if you work in one of a small number of jobs where there could be a conflict of interest - for instance if you are a police officer.
Time off for magistrate duties
You will need to be in court for at least 13 days, or 26 half-days, a year. Discuss with your employer how you will balance your work and magistrate duties. Your employer must, by law, allow you reasonable time off work to serve as a magistrate. You will get your rota well in advance, so you can give your employer plenty of notice of when you’ll be in court.
Pay and allowances
Magistrates are not paid, but many employers allow their employees time off with pay. If you lose out on pay, you can claim an allowance at a set rate, as well as allowances for travel and subsistence.
Training to be a magistrate
You will need the training to be a magistrate. The training, when you start, will add up to about 21 hours, or 3 and a half days, as well as some meetings.
The training could take place over:
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a long weekend;
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weekdays;
- short evening sessions over several weeks.
Related FAQ's
Our speciality lies in the field of Immigration, Nationality and EU Law, so it means we always are dealing with this side of the law. We are able to support you in making a correct decision, avoid delays on your case, save money and time, not forgetting the stress of any doubts with your application.
There are many routes available to come to the UK, extend or switch, some of them do not allow extension or even switching. Knowing what is right can be a difficult task and this is why we are here. Simple task of not using the prescribed forms can mean your application is invalid, which means if you have no valid stay, you would have to return back and there is no appeal rights.
Our initial consultations are a chargeable service. We initially discuss the requirements of the application to ensure you meet the requirements and have the documentation required at hand for the submission. It gives you an opportunity to meet us and ask questions.
Each case will be checked thoroughly, everything will be cross referenced so guidelines are met and we will also add our legal document which would outline the Immigration Rules and how the client has satisfied the rules. We use documents that are used by Home Office case workers, so we know exactly what they would look for in your case.
The most important fact is that law constantly changes, policy guidelines and requirements are always changing, so it is best that you always use specialised services to support you. We never compromise our services, our fees remain very competitive but our expertise is at the very highest standard.
We place our clients first, so when you sign the customer care letter and we go through your case file, and we believe that the case would not be successful, we will terminate the agreement and return your documents. We will also provide alternative solutions with no added costs. We also have a cancellation period should you feel you want to withdraw your file.
Please note that all cases cannot be guaranteed as circumstances depends and whether you met guidelines, however the Home Office caseworker can still refuse cases on the balance of probabilities and other factors. Our job would be to prepare your case in the best possible way.
1) You contact us through e-mail or phone.
2) We take some basic information, we ask some relevant questions to understand the type of query and what type of support is required.
3) Your case then gets passed to a case worker.
4) Case Worker would contact you to set up an initial meeting.
5) You attend a consultation, an action plan is drawn up and we find out whether ICS Legal can support your case. A report would be sent where there is a requirement to outline what was discussed and what to do next.
6) You authorise us to be your legal representative by signing our customer care letter.
7) We will then start to request documents and information about your case this will build up your case pack.
8) We will then write our legal report and use Home Office caseworker’s documents to ensure everything has been checked and all requirement have been met.
9) Where possible we will go through every aspect of your case before case submission.
10) We will continue to update you throughout the case life cycle .