Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has called on the government to deliver swift reform to save the justice system from “disrepute” after fast-track courts convicted domestic violence victims over unpaid household bills.
Women who have suffered abuse at the hands of their partners are being prosecuted through the controversial Single Justice Procedure (SJP) after falling behind on payments, such as car tax and TV licence.
Court papers show prosecutions proceed despite pleas of being blocked from accessing their money by a controlling partner, suffering verbal and violent abuse and, in some cases, having to flee their homes.
Speaking at the launch of a £15.6 million safety fund for women and girls, Lord Khan said these convictions “shouldn’t be happening” and called on Labour colleagues in the government to overhaul the SJP system to restore public confidence in the courts.
“There are too many women who are criminalised who should not be”, he said. “There are too many women who are imprisoned who should not be.
“I know that the Justice Secretary and, in particular, the Justice Minister Sarah Sackman are seized of this.
“It shouldn’t be happening, and it’s really important – in addition to magistrates and judges being more sensitive to these issues – that the whole justice system understands the unfairness that currently exists.”
As Shadow Justice Secretary in 2014, Lord Khan warned about the dangers of creating a fast-track court process, insisting at the time that it “should not be to the detriment of proper open justice or due process.”
He said there is now a bank of evidence of errors being made in the SJP system.
“That’s why it’s important for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to look at this again,” he said.
“Every time there is a bad case, it brings the system into disrepute.”
The government, which consulted on SJP reform last Spring, has promised that proposed changes “will be set out shortly”.
Lord Khan unwittingly found himself at the centre of a SJP scandal last week when it emerged he had been convicted and fined by a magistrate in Hereford for not taxing a Nissan Micra.
The Mayor branded it a “scam”, and the conviction was overturned after it emerged the Micra had apparently been fraudulently registered in his name.
The debacle opened up further scrutiny of an SJP system which has been dogged by controversy in the last few years, including children being unlawfully prosecuted, thousands of fare evasion convictions being overturned, and a litany of cases involving harsh convictions of sick pensioners.
In the SJP system, magistrates sit alone to decide on low-level criminal cases based on written evidence.
In the latest batch of convictions was a woman from Hull who failed to tax her car and told South Shields Magistrates’ Court about the domestic abuse she had suffered.
“I was thrown out of this property by my abusive ex-partner, leaving me with nowhere to live,” she wrote.
“He controlled all my finances, including this tax on this vehicle.”
She was given a six-month conditional discharge and was ordered to pay £43 in costs and settle the £49.17 car tax bill.
In a separate case, a Sheffield woman was convicted of not paying her TV licence, despite telling York Magistrates’ Court she had been in a relationship “with extreme domestic violence and also coercive control”.
“My partner at the time was not giving me access to funds which has led to me being behind on my bills,” she wrote.
The woman said her ex-partner was ultimately arrested and charged, but she has been left needing medical treatment for mental health issues.
The magistrate gave the woman a two-year conditional discharge and also ordered her to pay £120 in costs and a £26 victim surcharge within 28 days, or face the possibility of bailiff action, additional fines and even arrest.
Lord Khan declined to comment on his own SJP case, but revealed he had been in talks with the MoJ last week.
He said: “It doesn’t matter about me or what happened to me, the issue is to make sure that every person receives a fair trial, and is seen to receive a fair trial as well.”
SJP magistrates can choose to refer cases back to prosecutors like the DVLA and TV Licensing, if new information offered by the defendant in mitigation could be important.
But magistrates said in 2024 that they often feel rushed into decisions, in a system which deals with thousands of cases each day, and they do not feel sufficiently trained on their powers.
The MoJ said defendants in SJP cases can detail their circumstances, including domestic abuse, and magistrates “must consider that information before making a decision”.
“The government is also reviewing what more can be done to support vulnerable defendants, and further detail on proposed reforms to the Single Justice Procedure will be set out shortly,” a spokesperson said.
The DVLA told the government’s 2025 consultation on SJP reform that it believes all prosecutors should see mitigation letters before cases go in front of a magistrate.
Both the DVLA and TV Licensing have said their officials do not routinely see mitigation due to the current design of the court system.
TV Licensing said criminal prosecution is “always a last resort” and said its officers who conduct doorstep visits to unlicensed properties “ask whether a person’s personal circumstances have affected their ability to stay licensed and explain how this information can be shared with TV Licensing after the visit if needed”.
In its response to the government consultation, TV Licensing did not back the idea of SJP prosecutors automatically seeing mitigation letters.
But the body has recently updated the letters sent out to people being prosecuted for not paying the licence, telling them: “If you committed the offence due to difficult personal circumstances or because you made a genuine mistake, you can contact the prosecutor to explain your reasons.
“In some circumstances, they might reconsider your case.”
