*/
Desmond Browne QC, the Chairman of the Bar Council, has criticised proposals to reform legal aid as “cuts in spending, pure and simple”.
In August, the Ministry of Justice (“MoJ”) set out its plans to “rebalance” the £2 billion legal aid budget, in its consultation, Legal Aid: Funding Reforms . These include “rationalising” the rate of pay for defence barristers in Crown Court cases so that they are brought more in line with CPS rates, which are on average 23 per cent less.
Browne warned: “Cuts on this scale will not merely drive down quality, they will force practitioners out of legal aid work.
The Bar accepts that there has been a lack of parity between prosecution and defence fees. That disparity arose simply because the CPS did not revise their rates in line with those of Lord Carter.
“It is the height of perversity to turn this issue on its head and force defence fees down to the level of unacceptably low prosecution fees.”
Browne has written to the heads of criminal sets asking for their views on how best to respond to “see off ” the proposal.
The MoJ also proposes to reduce fees for police station work in some areas, combine work on committals into one fixed fee, end payments for criminal file reviews, and pay experts the same for work in civil as in criminal cases.
Barristers have until 12 November to respond to the consultation.
Browne warned: “Cuts on this scale will not merely drive down quality, they will force practitioners out of legal aid work.
The Bar accepts that there has been a lack of parity between prosecution and defence fees. That disparity arose simply because the CPS did not revise their rates in line with those of Lord Carter.
“It is the height of perversity to turn this issue on its head and force defence fees down to the level of unacceptably low prosecution fees.”
Browne has written to the heads of criminal sets asking for their views on how best to respond to “see off ” the proposal.
The MoJ also proposes to reduce fees for police station work in some areas, combine work on committals into one fixed fee, end payments for criminal file reviews, and pay experts the same for work in civil as in criminal cases.
Barristers have until 12 November to respond to the consultation.
Desmond Browne QC, the Chairman of the Bar Council, has criticised proposals to reform legal aid as “cuts in spending, pure and simple”.
In August, the Ministry of Justice (“MoJ”) set out its plans to “rebalance” the £2 billion legal aid budget, in its consultation, Legal Aid: Funding Reforms. These include “rationalising” the rate of pay for defence barristers in Crown Court cases so that they are brought more in line with CPS rates, which are on average 23 per cent less.
Update from the Chair of the Bar
By Clement Cowley, Partner at The Penny Group
Modernising communication and collaboration at a leading Chancery set. A Zexi case study
How to build profile without compromising professional duties. By Naumaan Farooq, Co-Founder of Inked PR
Marie Law, Director of Toxicology at AlphaBiolabs, examines the role of cut-off levels, and the wider range of factors that must be considered when interpreting results for family court proceedings
Endometriosis Awareness North, a charity raising awareness of endometriosis and supporting those affected across the North of England, has received a £500 boost from AlphaBiolabs via the company’s Giving Back initiative
A decade of reviews and research has disrupted accepted thinking in the search for causality. Suicides following abuse have overtaken domestic homicides. Is the law keeping up? Professor Susan Edwards KC (Hon) examines recent cases and the obstacles to successful prosecution
The case against judge-only justice – and why efficiency is not enough. By Professor Leslie Thomas KC
Heritage as an anchor and a compass, finding our common humanity and embracing the power of the outsider – Melina Antoniadis’s lessons learnt
Seeing the full picture – Baljit Ubhey OBE outlines the CPS action plan to tackle violence against women and girls, offering insights directly relevant to courtroom practice
Lauren Fullerton examines the how, what and why of setting up a second chambers base
