Barristers offered 15 per cent hike in fees, but strikes will go ahead

Criminal barristers are to receive a 15 per cent fee rise from the end of September, the government announced just days after they closed courts by going on strike.

The rise will see a typical criminal barrister receive an additional £7,000 a year, said the Ministry of Justice.

But the Criminal Bar Association said that further walkouts will go ahead as planned over the coming weeks, as the offer does not meet their demands for improved pay, but merely brings forward the mechanism for a previously-announced improvement in fees.

Criminal solicitors will also receive a 15 percent increase for their work in police stations and magistrates’ and youth courts, with further multi-million-pound reforms to solicitors’ pay still under consideration.

Members of the CBA walked out at the start of this week, many joining picket lines outside the Old Bailey and other courts in their wigs and black gown, in a row over legal aid fees for representing defendants who cannot afford to cover the costs themselves. Further strikes were threatened over the coming weeks.

A CBA spokesperson told The Independent: “Today’s announcement is regrettably nothing new, as the MOJ had always made it clear that the new payment scheme would only come into effect this autumn and only lock into new instructions from then.

“It won’t be retrospective and therefore the record backlog of 58,000-plus cases will still be paid under the old rates for the years it will take to complete them.”

Because of the lengthy delays to cases getting through courts, it will be years before barristers receive fees under the new rates, he said.

CBA chair Jo Sidhu QC, said: “The statement tells us nothing new and most importantly does not change the overall timeframe for when barristers can expect to see the new 15 per cent being any benefit to criminal barristers.”

The CBA said there was no change to plans for industrial action over the coming four weeks, escalating from a two-day downing of tools in the first week to a full Monday to Friday walkout on the week beginning 18 July.

Justice minister James Cartlidge said: “Our energetic efforts to tackle the courts backlog are working but the strike action by criminal barristers threatens all that progress, despite the very generous pay offer on the table.

“The typical criminal barrister will earn an extra £7,000 a year from September, so I urge the Criminal Bar Association to accept this offer to stop victims having to wait longer for justice.”

The chair of the Bar Council, Mark Fenhalls QC, said that criminal barristers are feeling “mistreated, undervalued and overwhelmed” after a decade of chronic underfunding of the justice system.

“Today’s announcement of a 15 per cent fee uplift is not enough to reverse the cuts of the last decade, but it is a welcome first step in the right direction,” he said. “There is a lot more work to be done to undo the damage and begin to rebuild trust with the legal professions.”

A Downing Street spokesperson said any further industrial action would be “disappointing and regrettable”.

The spokesperson said: ”Strike action will force victims to wait longer for justice, especially when we've been working to clear backlogs from the pandemic and have seen those reducing.

“We encourage them to agree the proposed 15 per cent pay rise.”