The Ministry of Justice will be grilled by MPs this week over its controversial legal aid proposals immediately after hearing evidence from the leaders of the major representative bodies.

Continuing its inquiry on the future of legal aid, the House of Commons justice select committee will first hear evidence from Law Society president I. Stephanie Boyce and Bar Council chair Mark Fenhalls QC. MPs will then hear from justice minister James Cartlidge MP and Jelena Lentzos, deputy director for legal aid policy.

Boyce is expected to tell the committee that the ministry’s proposals do not match the minimum £135m recommended by Sir Christopher Bellamy following his government-commissioned review. The Bar Council is expected to highlight data published earlier this month that shows a 10% drop in 2020-21 in the number of barristers practising full time in publicly funded criminal law – data that was not available to Bellamy.

The ministry is expected to stand by its proposals. Announcing that it was lifting the funding cap on judicial sitting days for another year to bring down the court backlog, the department said it was increasing spending on criminal legal aid by £135m, a year, ‘including a fee increase which will see a typical criminal barrister earning nearly £7,000 extra per year’.

The Criminal Bar Association says a 15% cash injection that includes VAT and fees paid to solicitor-advocates is in reality no more than 9% for the criminal bar.

Meanwhile, as the criminal bar’s ‘no returns’ action over low fees enters a third week, solicitors will gather this afternoon to discuss the next stage of action at an event organised by the London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association and Criminal Law Solicitors Association.

 

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