Raab pledges to plough £135m into criminal legal aid

The government has today announced it is accepting Sir Christopher Bellamy’s central recommendation to invest an extra £135m a year into the criminal legal aid sector. However, practitioners will not see any immediate cash as the Ministry of Justice insists it needs to consult for 12 weeks due to the scale of reform.

Lord chancellor Dominic Raab said: ‘We owe our whole legal profession – solicitors, barristers, court staff and judiciary – a debt of gratitude for keeping the wheels of justice turning over the last two years. That’s why we are accepting Sir Christopher Bellamy’s recommendation for an uplift in fees and a total of £135m extra investment to ensure legal representation is there for those who most need it as we build back a stronger and fairer society after the pandemic.’

Details of how the government proposes to carve up the £135m will become clear after the response and consultation document have been presented to parliament this morning.

The ministry said in a press release that one change will boost pay for lawyers representing suspects in police stations by 15% ‘to tackle the perverse incentive that currently encourages lawyers to wait and represent defendants in Crown courts because it pays better’.

The proposals will ‘give more people the opportunity to forge a career in criminal law, whatever their background, by funding the training and accreditation of solicitors and solicitor advocates and removing barriers for members of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives’.

An advisory board will be set up to help ‘shape criminal legal aid policy moving forward’.

Writing in the Gazette, justice minister James Cartlidge said the proposals will put criminal legal aid on a sustainable footing for years to come. However, ‘given the scale of reform we are proposing and the complexity of the criminal justice system, it is vital that we consult fully and fairly and that we give all interested parties, including those beyond the legal professions, time to engage’.

The ministry is also publishing the outcome of its means test review today. Proposals include free representation for all under-18s and legal help for families at inquests where there has been a potential breach of human rights. The financial cap on eligibility for Crown court defendants will be removed.

Update: The criminal legal aid consultation was published at lunchtime and can be found here. The outcome of the legal aid means test review and policy proposals have also been published and can be found here. Both consultations close on 7 June.

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