The Law Society has been granted permission to take the government to court over its decision not to raise criminal legal aid fees by the minimum 15% recommended by the Bellamy review.

Chancery Lane argued in its application that the government’s decision was irrational, lacked reasons and was in breach of the constitutional right of access to justice. Permission was granted by the High Court today on all three grounds.

Society president Lubna Shuja said: ‘We would encourage the new lord chancellor to reconsider his predecessor's refusal to engage with us in some form of alternative dispute resolution and to address our concerns without the need for continued intervention from the court. We are keen to work with the lord chancellor to find a way forward which will make this crucially important work financially viable for criminal defence solicitors.’

The Bellamy review, published towards the end of 2021, recommended an immediate 15% uplift in fees for solicitors and barristers as soon as possible. Publishing the government's final response a year later, the Ministry of Justice said solicitor firms would see a total fee increase of around 11%.

Shuja told the Commons justice committee in January that an extra £30m was needed to fill the gap between the government's offer and the Bellamy review recommendation. The following month, director of public prosecutions Max Hill KC announced that he had secured extra cash from HM Treasury to restore parity of fees between prosecution and criminal barristers. The disparity arose from the £54m deal the Ministry of Justice, under Brandon Lewis MP, agreed with the criminal bar to end its long-running industrial action.

Latest analysis by the Society suggests the criminal justice system will have lost over 2,000 duty solicitors in a decade by 2027, leaving people without access to a lawyer and making the police’s work more difficult.

Shuja said: ‘Funding solicitors fairly for the invaluable work that they do is one of several steps the government needs to take if it is serious about ensuring the criminal justice system has sufficient capacity to clear the court backlogs.

‘A relatively small amount of money can make a huge difference to hard-working solicitors, who are the backbone of our criminal justice system.’

The Ministry of Justice declined to comment on ongoing litigation. The department has previously said it is putting the legal aid sector on a sustainable footing and expects its reforms to increase investment in the solicitor profession by £85m a year, including an initial fee increase of more than 15% for their work in police stations and magistrates' courts.