Civil and family legal aid lawyers have lashed out at the 'irrational' and 'risible' fixed fee rates proposed in the government's consultation on the Carter review, launched last week.



Richard Miller, director of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group, said the plans to replace tailored fixed fees were 'unworkable in the real world'.



Under the proposals, tailored fixed fees would be replaced by a standard fee per case, covering areas including actions against the police, community care, and consumer, debt, education, employment, housing, clinical negligence and public law.



The Legal Services Commission (LSC) consultation proposes either a national or regional fixed fee for each area of work. For example, the national fee for housing work would be £163, while the regional housing fees range from £91 in the south-east to £206 in London.



Mr Miller said: 'There is clearly no underlying rationale behind the figures being offered - no relation to work done on these cases, to demand, to the need to encourage supply, nor to local or national priorities.'



In family law, the LSC proposes two graduated fee schemes for care proceedings and private family law cases. The fees proposed for care proceedings are £159 (or £198 in London) for initial advice, or a national fee of £164. National fees for full representation in the High Court would be £1,230 for acting for the child and £1,671 for the parent.



For private family work, the national fees proposed are £113 for level one legal help, £320 for level two, and £1,083 for level three, which includes all work following the issue of proceedings except for representation at a final contested hearing. Regional fees are also put forward in the consultation.



For advocacy work, solicitors would be paid a lower amount than barristers 'because they are already familiar with the details of the case'.



Christina Blacklaws, chairwoman of the Law Society's family law committee, said: 'Fixed fees are wrong for family work, which is so complex... The rates of pay contained in the consultation are risible. There is no additional payment for experience or expertise or accreditation. It is a very poor package.



'This flies in the face of what Lord Carter has said - that he recognises the Children Act supplier base as extremely vulnerable. Then the LSC comes in with figures that are laughable. For my own practice, this would represent a two-thirds drop on what is paid currently. The rates are so far removed from we are currently being paid that it will mean we can no longer do the work. Not to give solicitors the same graduated fees as advocates is also grossly unfair.'



She added: 'If solicitors don't respond to this consultation, it will be on our heads.'



A spokesman for the LSC said there would be no reduction in the overall civil legal aid budget. The consultation closes on 12 October.



Rachel Rothwell