Policy background Judicial Allowances
The judicial allowances measure will place the power to determine allowances for judicial office holders on a statutory footing. Allowances have been used to recognise work undertaken outside of a judge’s core work of hearing cases, such as providing leadership or significant support to other judges and courts administrative staff, to address temporary recruitment and retention problems, or to recognise temporary periods of additional responsibility. Allowances are useful as, unlike judicial salaries which are subject to statutory protection, they can be removed when the need for them falls away, for example, a judge stops undertaking leadership responsibilities, and so will be used to make temporary and ad-hoc payments where appropriate.
	There are inconsistencies within current legislation in that the Lord Chancellor has a statutory power to determine provision of an allowance to some, but not all, judicial office holders for which the Lord Chancellor has the power to determine salary. This measure is therefore intended to resolve such inconsistencies by putting any residual common law powers in this area on a statutory footing and to ensure sufficient flexibility in judicial remuneration in certain specific circumstances, particularly where such remuneration is on a temporary basis.