The Law Society said the Justice Secretary’s claim last week to have matched Sir Christopher’s recommendation of at least 15% extra funds for criminal legal aid practitioners was nothing but ‘spin’.
Justice secretary Dominic Raab told the House of Commons on 22 March that ‘we matched the Bellamy recommendations on the quantum of investment and on the… uplift for fees’.
In fact, the Law Society claims, the proposals fall substantially short of what they first appeared to be. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) impact assessment (table 3, p12) shows the total increase for solicitors is 9% (not 15% as promised), a figure confirmed during subsequent meetings between Law Society and ministry officials.
Law Society president I Stephanie Boyce said: ‘Now we know that, for solicitors, the reality is different. We can no longer support the government’s proposals. The government has botched its response.’
Boyce said, unless the government changes tack, the Law Society no longer believes there is a viable economic future in criminal legal aid.
She appealed to criminal justice practitioners to make their views heard by responding to the MoJ consultation before 7 June. Click here for more information.
Boyce urged the MoJ to amend its proposals immediately to bring the funding for solicitors up to the full 15% to make the system economically viable. She suggested this could be done by: increasing payments for police station and magistrates’ court work still further; increasing the basic fee for Crown Court work; and guaranteeing additional funding on restructuring the Litigators’ Graduated Fee Scheme (LGFS).
An MoJ spokesperson said: ‘We have accepted Sir Christopher’s recommendation for an uplift in fees and our proposals will deliver an extra £135m a year in criminal legal aid―the biggest increase in a decade.
‘This is alongside our ambitious proposals to ensure professionals are better paid for the work they carry out, boosting pay for lawyers representing suspects in police stations, magistrates’ court and youth court by 15% and funding the training and accreditation of solicitors and solicitor advocates.’
