Criminal legal aid solicitors will get a pay rise in time for Christmas after the government today confirmed that most solicitor fees are to be increased. The first statutory instrument implementing the uplifts, covering crime lower fee increases, will come into force on 22 December.

The reforms are set out in a post-consultation report on ‘Criminal Legal Aid: Proposals for Solicitor Fee Scheme Reform’, published by the Ministry of Justice in May. The MoJ received 214 responses.

The government is taking forward the following reforms: harmonising the fixed fee for all police station schemes at £320 excluding VAT, and harmonising the escape fee threshold at £650 excluding VAT; uplifting all magistrates’ courts fees by 10%, including Youth Court fees; establishing a fixed ratio of 65:75:100 between guilty plea, cracked trial, and trial basic fees under the Litigators’ Graduated Fee Scheme (LGFS); uplifting the basic fees for the lowest paying offences under the LGFS; uplifting prison law fees by 24%; and uplifting fees for appeals work by 10%.

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Following feedback, the MoJ has changed its position on the police station escape fee threshold (the point at which additional fees can be claimed in exceptional cases, in addition to the usual fixed fee). Respondents complained that the level consulted upon, £960 excluding VAT, which is calculated by providers using prescribed hourly rates, was too high and would make the threshold more difficult to reach.

The threshold will therefore to be reduced to £650 excluding VAT, ‘which equates to approximately two times the fixed fee as opposed to three times the fixed fee’.

Fees for appeals work will rise 10%, ‘so they are consistent with the magistrates’ courts fee scheme uplift’. This will ‘help support the sustainability of the firms who undertake this type of work’, the MoJ said.

A second statutory instrument will be laid as soon ‘as the required changes to uplift fees can be delivered through Legal Aid Agency (LAA) digital systems’. Work to restore systems following this year’s cyber-attack on the agency has already forced the government to push fee uplifts for housing and immigration work down its list of priorities.

The second SI will cover the crime higher fee increases set out in today’s response, relating to the LGFS, fixed fees for appeals in the LGFS and representation on an appeal by way of case stated in the High Court.

‘We remain committed to implementing all the uplifts set out in this response as soon as operationally possible and within this parliament,’ the MoJ said. 

In a statement, justice minister Sarah Sackman said up to £92m of investment in criminal legal aid would 'tackle years of neglect and build a stronger and more sustainable legal aid sector'.  Once fully implemented, criminal legal aid solicitors will have received a 24% overall uplift in funding since the 2021 Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review, she added.

The Law Society welcomed the announcement as ’a step forward’. Society vice president Brett Dixon said: ’This additional investment is a positive step forward and a short-term boost for the profession after decades of underfunding and cuts. We are particularly pleased to see the government has taken on our feedback including increasing the escape fee for police station work.'

However he added: ’Disappointingly, the Ministry of Justice has not chosen to address the additional costs of out-of-hours work.’