Government plans to re-introduce a means test for criminal cases in magistrates' courts and transfer responsibility for administering legal aid to the Legal Services Commission have left solicitors calling for any savings to be re-invested in the legal aid system.

Launching consultation on the Criminal Defence Service Bill, legal aid minister David Lammy said the proposals were aimed at freeing up 70 million and achieving greater consistency and control over publicly funded criminal cases.

'We believe that legal aid funds must be targeted at those who need it the most,' he explained.

Law Society chief executive Janet Paraskeva agreed that those who could afford to pay their own way should do so - as long as the means test was reasonable and implemented properly.

'It must not put an additional bureaucratic burden on solicitors already weighed down with red tape,' she warned.

She added: 'All money saved through means testing must be put back in the legal aid budget and targeted at the most vulnerable people in society.'

The proposed legislation was launched amid growing fears that plans for a new police station telephone advice line will see firms go out of business.

The CDS Direct scheme will mean that in general, only indictable offences will be referred directly to a defence solicitor, with most others dealt with by an adviser over the telephone.

Duty solicitors will no longer be paid for telephone advice.

The six-month pilots will affect all duty solicitor schemes in London and Liverpool, as well as Nottingham's Boston scheme.

But Richard Miller, director of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group, said solicitors would still have to make telephone calls to take cases on in the first place, while subsequent calls would also be inevitable.

'The likely impact of a pay cut of 30 on most duty cases a solicitor takes will be such as to render criminal work unviable for many firms,' he added.

Paula Rohan