Under the duty solicitor scheme, defence solicitors attend police stations 24 hours a day, 365 days a year so that police officers can interview suspects.
In the letter, published this week, however, CLSA chair Daniel Bonich warns the system is ‘close to collapse… there is now just one duty solicitor in Barnstaple who cannot possibly cover the scheme.
‘Schemes at Skegness, the Isle of Wight and Ceredigion are barely functioning. The average age of duty solicitors is over 50. Firms cannot recruit young solicitors… The reason for this collapse echoes the current dispute with the Criminal Bar. Decades of under-funding, no fee increases for 20 years and, indeed, for solicitors an 8.75% reduction in legal aid fees in 2014.’
Bonich warns: ‘It would be an error to assume because solicitors are not as yet “striking” that they accept the current position.’
He expresses support for the Criminal Bar, which is currently on strike, and notes Sir Christopher Bellamy’s recommendation for an immediate 15% increase in fees, as minimum.
However, he highlights that solicitors are sold short by the existing proposal for a 15% fee increase for advocacy on new cases, a 15% increase for police station and magistrates court work, but an increase that works out at just 4% for the preparation (litigation) of Crown Court work by solicitors. This equates to an increase of 9% for solicitor firms, applying to new cases from 30 September 2022. Bonich calls, instead, for the increase to apply to every criminal defence legal aid fee from a certain date.
There are currently about 964 criminal legal aid firms, compared to 1,688 in 2010. The number of duty solicitors has fallen from 5,240 solicitors in 2017 to 3,825 this year.
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