Defence solicitors will no longer have to wait until their client is charged or released without bail to get paid for police station work, under changes announced by the Legal Aid Agency.

Solicitors will be able to bill for pre-charge bail matters within a month of attending the police station instead of having to wait until the case ends. The changes to the current crime contract will come into force on 1 July.

Law Society president Lubna Shuja said: ‘We have been lobbying the Ministry of Justice for this change for some time and are relieved that hard-working solicitors will now once again be paid more quickly for their work in police stations.

Police station

‘Due to a recent change in the law, more detainees are subject to lengthy bail than was previously the case. This means duty solicitors have had to wait until a client is charged or released without bail before they can be paid.’

One firm had 101 cases on bail, Shuja revealed, with payment sitting in an ‘arbitrary no man’s land’.

‘While this change will help firms to survive in the short term, sustained investment by the government is needed in the long term to make this crucially important criminal defence work financially viable. Without criminal defence solicitors, court backlogs will continue to grow and victims and defendants will continue to face unacceptable delays in accessing justice,’ Shuja said.

 

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