The government has accused the criminal bar of ‘threatening’ to delay justice as it doubled down on its controversial legal aid offer.
Criminal Bar Association chair Jo Sidhu QC told striking barristers outside the Royal Courts of Justice on Monday that justice secretary Dominic Raab could end the strikes immediately with one phone call signalling that he is willing to talk.
The CBA insists a 25% fee uplift is necessary to prevent a further attrition of criminal barristers from the profession. However, justice minister James Cartlidge told the House of Commons yesterday that the government’s 15% offer was 'generous'.
‘I urge those engaged in disruption to reconsider so that we can get back to reducing the backlog, instead of threatening to increase waiting times,’ he said.
The fee uplift, which is expected to come into force at the end of September, will only apply to new representation orders from October. With the Crown court backlog currently hovering around 58,000 cases, the CBA says its members would not receive the benefit of a 15% increase until late 2023. The association also rejects the government’s claim that the fee increase cannot be attached to current cases due to legal and technical issues.
Cartlidge said: ‘There have been calls for the increases to somehow be backdated to existing work, but there are huge legal questions about that, and it is also very difficult practically. How practical would it be, politically, to start delivering backdated increases in public sector pay?’
Next week the criminal bar will stage court walkouts over four days. Meanwhile, criminal defence solicitors are considering options for escalating their own action.
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