The number of duty solicitors under 35 has plummeted across England, according to data published by the Law Society today – prompting renewed calls for the government to implement the 15% funding increase recommended by an independent review immediately.

According to Chancery Lane, over 60% of duty solicitors in Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, East Sussex, Lincolnshire, Wiltshire and Worcestershire are over 50. There are no criminal duty solicitors under 35 in Cornwall, Lincolnshire, Wiltshire and Worcestershire, and only one in Norfolk, Shropshire, and Warwickshire. In 2018 nine counties had two or fewer duty solicitors under 35, which has now risen to 16.

Society president I. Stephanie Boyce said: ‘Some duty solicitor schemes are already stretched almost to breaking point and others will soon fail. Attending police stations to provide legal advice is poorly paid, often done out-of-hours after a full day in court or the office and involves dealing with people in highly stressful situations. This is despite it being a critical stage of a criminal case because what happens in the police station, and the careful judgements solicitors are required to make there, affect the entire case.

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Source: The Law Society

‘It is little wonder that firms are struggling to recruit young lawyers and retain staff who can switch to the Crown Prosecution Service or other areas of the law for better pay and a vastly improved work-life balance. Each lost firm means fewer practitioners to respond to an ever-growing number of cases and ensure timely access to justice for victims and defendants.

‘There can be no justice without a healthy defence profession and there can be no more delay in ensuring it remains available to all of us whenever we might need it. The 15% increase in criminal legal aid rates recommended in Sir Christopher Bellamy’s [review] should be implemented as soon as possible to enable the criminal defence profession to retain, recruit and meet increasing demand.’

Lord chancellor Dominic Raab has promised to respond to the recommendations of the independent review by the end of March and claimed yesterday that rushing his response would leave him open to legal challenges.

Justice minister James Cartlidge told representative and practitioner bodies this week that he understood their frustrations and did not rule out the possibility that some measures could be introduced in the short term.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson told the Gazette: 'We have injected up to £74m into the criminal legal aid sector since 2018. We are now listening to all parts of the sector to ensure that the legal aid reforms we make in response to Sir Christopher Bellamy’s review improve its sustainability for the long term.'

The department said the £74m included £51m announced in August 2020 and £23m in 2018, which went into a range of schemes including the advocates' and litigators' graduated fee schemes.