The prospect of fixed fees for police station work - which may include rates cuts - was raised this week by the Legal Services Commission (LSC), which was also accused of asking solicitors to spy on barristers over potential pay strikes.

An LSC spokesman said it will launch a consultation in November on reforming the police station cost system, with a view to introducing standard fees. He said fixed fees in civil legal aid seemed to have worked.


'[They] have given firms increased financial certainty and the opportunity to benefit from efficiency savings,' he explained.


The LSC declined to comment on potential cuts, but commentators said the aim was to shave off at least 5% from the criminal legal aid budget in a bid to combat an anticipated £130 million overspend.


Rodney Warren, director of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association, said he hoped that would not be the case as pay freezes have been imposed since 1993.


'Pay rises are now so rare, it's like when Kennedy was shot - everyone knows where they were at the time,' he said.


Meanwhile, solicitors in Liverpool are furious following a recent meeting where an LSC official asked them to 'provide intelligence' over local barristers' plans to strike over pay. Robert Broudie, partner at Liverpool firm RM Broudie, said the idea that solicitors should 'grass up' barristers had caused outrage. 'This is an indication that the LSC agenda is against the legal profession and not to act in partnership with lawyers,' he argued.


Derek Hill, head of the LSC's Criminal Defence Service, said the commission was justified in enquiring about potential advice gaps to protect clients - 'therefore we keep in constant touch with solicitors and others about current and emerging developments which could affect our ability to secure defence services, so we can plan and react accordingly', he said.


But Mr Warren reminded solicitors that their professional responsibilities were to clients and the courts, and not to the LSC.


A Bar Council spokesman urged all lawyers to stick together in getting a fairer deal for legal aid. 'We are all disappointed about the lack of funding,' he said. Any strike action would have to be taken individually and not collectively, however.


'There is a great degree of common cause; the system can only exist with the support of both solicitors and barristers. Arbitrary and unannounced cuts will only hack all practitioners off.'


Meanwhile, the Law Society President, Kevin Martin, this week renewed calls for more investment in legal aid in his speech to the Solicitors 2005 conference in London.


'We have to put an end to the hand-to-mouth, penny-pinching approach to legal aid,' he said. 'Timely legal advice can contribute to tackling social inequality. We know from experience that the provision of high-quality legal advice saves money in the long term.'


Mr Martin demanded more incentives for rewarding and retaining solicitors; greater initiatives and funding aimed at encouraging new entrants into the field; and the ring-fencing of the civil legal aid fund to protect it from the ever-increasing crime budget.