- new payments better reflect the amount of work that
goes into preparing cases for trial
- ministers announce independent review to look at
the sustainability of the legal aid market
- part of ongoing work to create a fair and
proportionate legal aid system for all
These new payments will directly address the considerable
time and effort put in behind the scenes to prepare
cases. This can include reviewing sometimes vast
quantities of digital evidence in a case, which has
significantly increased in recent years.
Today’s reforms are the first step in an ongoing
government review of criminal legal aid which seeks to
create an effective and sustainable system, ensuring
access to justice and value for taxpayer money.
The Lord Chancellor, QC
MP, said:
Every day barristers and solicitors do outstanding work
to ensure defendants get a fair trial and justice is
delivered.
These new payments is the first step in our plan to
make sure the criminal legal aid system is fair and
proportionate for all, and we will set out further
measures in due course.
It follows a consultation launched in February which
considered a variety of changes to the way legal aid fees
are paid to criminal advocates and solicitors.
Specifically, the new measures provide:
- new payments for litigators and advocates for
reviewing unused material
- additional payments for advocates with exceptionally
high volumes of prosecution evidence, with payments made
at an hourly rate
- increased payments for advocates preparing cases
which fall at the first hurdle at the Crown Court, i.e.
when a plea is given in the first hearing
- new payments for solicitors for the work they do
ahead of sending cases to the Crown Court
Ministers have also confirmed that an independent review
of the criminal legal aid market will commence later this
year which seeks to ensure its sustainability, and value
for public funds.
Notes to Editors
In February the government launched a consultation on an
accelerated package of measures amending the criminal
legal aid fee schemes. The response to that
consultation was published today, including plans to
pay criminal advocates and solicitors up to £51 million
extra for the work they do.
