Complain about a judge, magistrate, tribunal member or coroner

You can complain if you’re unhappy with a judge, magistrate, tribunal member or coroner’s:

  • behaviour
  • language
  • conduct

There’s a different .

You must make your complaint within 3 months.

You cannot use the complaints process to challenge a decision or sentence. You should get legal advice about how to appeal.

How to complain

There’s a different process for tribunals, magistrates’ courts and judges sitting in other courts.

Tribunals

.

Magistrates’ court

for the area your court is in. You can ask a member of staff at court if you’re not sure which advisory committee to contact.

Judges sitting in other courts

This includes:

  • Crown Court judges
  • coroners
  • district judges

You can .

If you’re not happy with how your complaint was handled

You can ask the Judicial Appointments and Conduct Ombudsman (JACO) to look into how your complaint was handled.

After you get a decision about your complaint from the Tribunal President, advisory committee or JCIO, you’ll have 28 days to contact JACO.

You can contact JACO sooner if you’ve been waiting more than 6 months for the Tribunal President, advisory committee or JCIO to make a decision.

Find out how to contact JACO and what they can do.