Hundreds of Staffordshire Families Await Inquests for Over Six Months

Staffordshire: Nearly 300 families are waiting for inquests. They’ve been waiting over six months to learn why their loved ones died. The coroner service has a backlog of 281 cases, with 121 taking over a year.

To tackle this issue, councillors approved a £519,000 funding boost. This money will help reduce the backlog and meet the demand for inquests. It will pay for new coroners and support staff.

In June, the joint coroners committee delayed the funding decision. They wanted to ensure a strong business case was made. Now, they’re satisfied with the arguments presented for the extra funding.

Acting senior coroner Emma Serrano shared that they’ve slightly reduced the backlog. They hired more assistant coroners to focus on complex cases. However, this approach isn’t sustainable long-term due to costs and staff welfare.

Ms. Serrano expressed concerns about overspending the budget for 2023/24. The service is on track to overspend by £104,000, mainly due to the increased use of assistant coroners.

Staffordshire has many complex inquests needing juries, partly due to eight prisons in the area. Ms. Serrano noted that jury inquests are a major issue causing the backlog.

Currently, there are 27 prison inquests, with 15 requiring a jury. These cases can take from three days to two weeks. This means a significant amount of court time is needed.

She believes that if they didn’t have this issue, the coronial budget would suffice. The complexity of the work is equivalent to needing a full-time person.

The funding request includes £175,900 for extra staffing to handle the backlog. It also includes £343,100 for regular operations. The county council will cover most of these costs.

Committee members sought reassurance about the effectiveness of the extra resources. Councillor Victoria Wilson praised their efforts and asked about future backlog concerns.

Ms. Serrano aims to reduce the backlog so only cases with valid delays exceed the time limit.