Crown court forms: fee disagreement hinders progress

A pilot for new Crown Court forms due to start this week in Nottingham has been temporarily shelved following the collapse of similar schemes in the Old Bailey and Preston.


The forms - introduced under the new Criminal Procedure Rules - were to be used at plea and case management hearings, which replace the old-style plea and direction hearings. They were designed to promote early case preparation and help ensure that the advocate who does that early preparation goes on to do any eventual trial.


But the introduction of the pilot schemes has been controversial, with barristers objecting to the lack of a supporting remuneration scheme to cover the extra work involved.


The pilot at the Central Criminal Court collapsed in April after barristers withdrew over the funding issue (see [2005] Gazette, 14 April, 5). Last week, the Gazette revealed that barristers operating at Preston Crown Court were also refusing to take part.


A spokesman from the Department for Constitutional Affairs confirmed the postponement of the Nottingham scheme.


He said: 'The pilots have been deferred with considerable reluctance because it has not been possible to reach agreement on early preparation fees before the pilots were due to start. It is a postponement and we wish to secure agreement at the earliest opportunity.'


A Bar Council spokesman said: 'This is not the end of the story - the project will eventually bear fruit. We are still completely committed to the principle of early preparation and believe the scheme can work if there is closer co-operation on listing for cases so that the risk of counsel not being paid for early preparation is absolutely minimised.'


The pilot is now expected to take place in October.