Barristers are set to go on strike in England and Wales next month.
Members of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) voted in favour of an all-out strike that will start on Monday September 5. It follows weeks of walkouts.
The ballot saw 79.54% of members vote to escalate action. The CBA is asking for a 25% rise in pay for legal aid work on behalf of clients who can not afford lawyers.
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Barristers are due to receive a 15% fee increase at the end of September. But the CBA says the pay offer would not immediately kick in or be applied to cases that are already underway.
CBA vice chairwoman Kirsty Brimelow QC said this was “last-resort action” over a demand for less money than it costs the Government for the courts to sit empty.
She told BBC Breakfast: “The effect (of the strike) will be that the courts continue to sit empty with trials and cases not being heard. It is a last-resort action.
“The remedy is for an injection of money into the backlog of cases which currently stands at 60,000 cases, that barristers are working on that will cost the Government only £1.1 million per month.
“Currently, it’s costing much more for the courts to sit empty.”
According to Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures, more than 6,000 court hearings have been disrupted a result of the dispute over conditions and Government-set fees for legal aid advocacy work.
Data released under freedom of information laws show that during the first 19 days of industrial action – between June 27 and August 5 – there were 6,235 court cases disrupted, including 1,415 trials, across England and Wales.
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