Criminal barristers are voting on whether to suspend their strike following an offer from the Lord Chancellor, Brandon Lewis
According to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the proposed 15% fee increase for barristers and solicitors will now apply to the ‘vast majority’ of cases currently in the Crown court. Other measures designed to tackle the backlog will be ‘explored’, such as ‘increasing early resolution of cases, reducing the number of ineffective trials and progressing cases between magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court’, the MoJ said, in a statement. In total, an extra £54m will be invested in the criminal Bar and solicitors.
The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) said the government’s offer represents ‘substantial positive movement from government. As a result the offer will be put to a ballot’. However, the CBA tweeted that it was ‘not a good start that the Lord Chancellor has insisted on going ahead with a premature press release’.
Meanwhile, criminal law solicitors are considering withdrawing their labour in protest at the 9% increase offered to them.
Law Society president I Stephanie Boyce said: ‘Reaching a compromise with criminal barristers but not providing parity for solicitors is short-sighted given it is solicitors who make up the greater part of the criminal defence sector.
‘The independent review the government commissioned made clear solicitors are in an even worse financial situation than their counterparts. Solicitors are the backbone of the criminal justice system, advising their clients from the first moment at the police station, through to passing of a sentence.
‘They are not taking short-term disruptive action. They are simply leaving the profession permanently, in ever greater numbers because the work is not financially viable. And yet the government is currently proposing only a 9% rate increase for solicitors, 40% less than the 15% being offered to barristers, and far less than the bare minimum the Bellamy report concluded was needed for criminal defence solicitors’ firms to remain economically viable.’
Boyce warned: ‘If solicitors do not get parity on the bare minimum 15% recommended by Lord Bellamy, the MoJ will have made it clear that there is no future in criminal defence practice and we will advise our members not to undertake this work. No responsible organisation could truthfully advise otherwise.’
The Law Society was due to hold ‘immediate’ meetings with ministers.
