The innovative charging programme is under threat after Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) lawyers discovered that extra funding promised under the comprehensive spending review will not kick in until next year, the Gazette has learned.


Prosecutors' union the First Division Association (FDA) met with CPS officials this week to complain that any delay in funding for the project - which transfers responsibility for charging from the police to CPS lawyers - would be to the detriment of CPS lawyers' health and safety and their quality of work.


The CPS got an extra £73 million in last week's spending review. It pledged to put the cash towards rolling out the charging initiative, which is backed by both criminal prosecution and defence lawyers.


But union CPS convenor Kris Venkatasami said its members were already juggling with police station and office-based work and could not deal with any roll-out under existing conditions. He urged the CPS to slow down on implementing any new initiatives. 'We want to find a sensible way forward - otherwise charging is going nowhere,' he warned. Negotiations are still ongoing.


The FDA's concerns echo fears from the CPS Inspectorate, which said this week that although the charging pilot was progressing well, there were problems in some CPS areas where resources had to be reallocated to the project at the expense of other initiatives. The CPS said it had already provided money to roll out the pilot this year, adding that extra money next year would enhance the existing scheme.