UK Supreme Court and Judicial Committee of the Privy Council publishes its annual Judicial Diversity and Inclusion Strategy update.

The Court recognises that it has a leadership role to play in supporting increasing diversity of the judiciary, and to communicate the Court's support for diversity and inclusion to the legal profession and the public. The overarching aims of this strategy are to support the progress of underrepresented groups into judicial roles and to achieve an inclusive and respectful working environment for justices where differences are valued.

The update sets out the progress that the Court and its staff have made in achieving our five objectives:

• Supporting and building an inclusive and respectful culture

• Supporting underrepresented groups into judicial roles

• Supporting an increase in the number of applicants from under-represented groups into the role of Supreme Court Justice

• Communicating the Court’s support for Diversity to the Legal profession

• Fulfilling the Court’s obligations under the Equality Act 2010

Introducing this year’s update, the Court’s President Lord Reed said:

“Attracting, developing and retaining a diverse judiciary is essential to the Courts and the public that we serve. The public have to be confident that judges are able to understand the cases before them and deliver justice fairly, and that can be difficult if the bench is not diverse.

“The Court is very grateful to all of the organisations we have worked with for engaging with us so constructively and for enabling us to learn from the experience of under-represented groups.”

One of the initiatives featured in this year’s update was the launch of the UK Association of Black Judges, which took place at the Court in July. Described as a “foundation of change for those who will come after”, the event was attended by Lord Leggatt, Lady Simler, Lord Lloyd-Jones, Lord Sales, Lord Richards, Lord Stevens, the Court’s former President Lady Hale and the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr.

Marking this year’s update, Lord Leggatt, the lead Justice for judicial diversity and inclusion said,

“I welcome the publication of the fourth Judicial Diversity and Inclusion Strategy Annual Update explaining the work the Court has undertaken over the last year. The Supreme Court is committed to actively supporting diversity and inclusion within the judiciary and legal profession. I am acutely aware that whilst diversity of the judiciary and the legal profession has been improving very gradually in recent years, far more needs to be done to increase the pace of change.

“As we develop our strategy for the future years, we will continue to demonstrate our support for diversity and inclusion in a practical, meaningful way.”

The 2025 update to the Judicial Diversity and Inclusion Strategy can be read in full here.

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