The Law Society has accused the government of being ‘short-sighted’ for not providing equal pay to solicitors after the new lord chancellor announced a revised offer to end the bar strike - warning that it is considering advising members not to undertake criminal defence work.

Brandon Lewis MP announced this morning he was offering a package of reforms that represent a further £54m investment in the criminal bar and solicitors.

The Ministry of Justice said in its press release that the 15% fee increase for criminal barristers will now apply to the vast majority of cases currently in the Crown Court and will also apply to fee increases for solicitors.

The ministry’s deal includes a £5m uplift per year for fees in the youth court, from the 2024/25 financial year, which the department says will benefit solicitors and some junior barristers.

However, the Law Society warned that the criminal justice system would collapse unless the government funds all parts of the system equally.

In a robust response to the deal, 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.’

Chancery Lane is meeting ministers today.

Boyce said: ‘If solicitors do not get parity on the bare minimum 15% recommended by Lord Bellamy, the Ministry of Justice 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 MoJ told the Gazette that £19m of the additional £54m is earmarked for solicitors and highlighted the last line of its press release that states ‘further uplifts for solicitors will be announced in the weeks ahead’.

 

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