The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Burnett of Maldon, has authorised the recruitment of 65 retired judges to deal with cases. The judges, half of whom are in their 70s, will aid in the effort to reduce the backlog of 63,000 cases, which is almost double the pre-pandemic figure.

A recruitment campaign for salaried judges had fallen short by 16, Lord Burnett said. Each judge would have been able to sit for 200 days year.

“That’s a big hit in capacity and a significant hit among the more experienced judges who can do the most difficult cases,” he told the Commons justice committee.

He said he doubted that the courts would be able to sit as many days they “theoretically could this year” despite the fact the government has removed any financial restrictions on the amount of time courts can sit.

He added that the target of reducing the backlog to 53,000 in two-and-a-half years would be “very difficult”. Even if it is achieved, the backlog will still stand at 20,000 more than the total in 2018/19.

Lord Burnett told the committee that there were two “constraints” impeding efforts to reduce the backlog: the shortage of judges and the lack of availability of lawyers. “Those are two significant constraints that are likely to hold up a quick reduction in outstanding case loads,” he said.

Kirsty Brimelow KC, vice-chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, said: “The criminal justice system remains in crisis. Government has started to play its part by reinvesting in barristers … but long-term reform needs additional expedition.”