Legal aid pay fight

Legal aid solicitors met this week to voice their dismay at last week's announcement that the government will not increase pay rates - and they have vowed to fight on.

At one meeting in London this week, representatives from around 20 practitioner groups pledged to press the Lord Chancellor's Department (LCD) for a pay rise.

At a separate gathering of the Law Society's access to justice working party, members called for the creation of an independent senior salaries review body to look at the issue.

Rodney Warren, chairman of both the Criminal Law Solicitors Association and the working party, said solicitors were encouraged by last year's rate rises, and now felt 'deep, dejected dismay' that the government had not continued in the same vein to combat recruitment and other problems.

'An independent examination of solicitors' salaries, similar to those which operate in other spheres for dentists and doctors, is now urgently needed,' he argued.

'This is an access to justice issue because if there is insufficient pay to give legal advice, then access to justice is not being served.'

Meanwhile, the LCD has announced an increase in funding of 1.7% for the Community Legal Service, to raise the financial threshold for legal aid to reflect increases in state benefits.

Paula Rohan