The government continues to show no signs of backing down in a dispute with the criminal bar over legal aid funding – telling the Gazette it is 'disappointed' that barristers are being balloted on escalating strike action.

The Criminal Bar Association is balloting members on whether to maintain the current action – alternating weeks of strike action combined with a refusal to accept new instructions and 'returned' cases – or escalate it to ‘uninterrupted’ strikes. A full-blown strike would begin on 5 September - when, the CBA points out, a new prime minister is expected to be in post.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said: ‘This is a disappointing decision by the Criminal Bar Association, considering criminal barristers will receive a 15% fee increase, equating to an average pay rise of £7,000 per year.

‘We have fast-tracked legislation so lawyers will start to receive the extra money from the end of September. Strike action is only serving to delay justice for victims.’

The ministry said the CBA’s demand to backdate the fee increase to existing cases would require a ‘fundamental change’ to how fees are paid and would cost a ‘disproportionate amount’ of taxpayer money, which would mean less money for victim support or court repairs.

The CBA says it is taking action as a last resort. ‘To illustrate what is at stake, in a poll of our under 7 years’ call juniors at the national Zoom meeting last Tuesday, a clear majority signalled that they are already preparing to leave the criminal bar unless our demands are substantially met by government,’ the association said on Monday.

Acknowledging that the strike action will cause hardship to members, the CBA has set up a hardship fund, and worked closely with the Bar Benevolent Association 'to ensure that it can also be accessed by colleagues in need'.

The government maintains that barristers will see a pay rise before the end of the year. ‘For example, payments for Crown court guilty pleas - which attract a new fee of between £420 and £9,8735 - could begin to be claimed this calendar year,’ justice minister Sarah Dines told the CBA this week.

However, the CBA says it will be years before criminal barristers see the benefits of any rate increase. With the backlog significantly above pre-pandemic levels, and the speed at which cases are concluding, new cases will be at the back of the queue.

 

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