Bristol barristers showed their solidarity for a national walkout in a fight for more funds for the criminal justice system. The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) represents around 2,400 specialist criminal barristers.
From yesterday (September, 5, 2022) it has voted to undertake an indefinite strike and its members will not attend any form of crown court hearing until further notice. The CBA describes their decision to take action as a last resort in order to ensure the viability of the junior criminal bar and ensure the future sustainability of the justice system.
The body has clashed with the Government over its decision to apply a 15 per cent increase to the fee scheme for new cases only. The CBA argues that, in practice, this will delay any meaningful rise until 2023 or later and is demanding a 25 per cent pay rise.
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Specialist criminal barristers in their first three years of practice can expect to earn a median income of £12,200. An income of £47,000 is the average annual pay (after expenses of 29 per cent but before tax) for all full-time criminal barristers.
Junior barristers can expect to earn no more than £126 (before expenses (of about 29 per cent plus tax) for hearings that can involve 10 hours of work, attending court for a full day and paying for their own travel.
In Bristol, barristers joined ranks outside Bristol Crown Court in Small Street to state their case for an action they described as unprecedented last resort. Barrister Kannan Siva was the first to give a series of statements on the situation.
He said: "This action is historic and unprecedented. It is a last resort and driven by a collapsing criminal justice system.
"We as criminal barristers have warned the government about that fact for years. The significant loss of barristers from the criminal bar in recent years was warned about as far back as 2014 by Sir Bill Jeffrey in his review.
"Criminal barristers in England and Wales have suffered an average decrease of 28% in real earnings since 2006. A quarter of specialist criminal barristers have been lost from the profession over the last five years.
"Barristers suspended our action back in 2019 whilst awaiting the review into Criminal Legal Aid carried out by Sir Christopher Bellamy and his team. This took two-and-a-half years to report.
"When the report was finally published last year, it made clear that the criminal justice system is in crisis. Criminal barristers already knew this. And so did government."
Barrister Lucy Taylor spoke of a criminal justice system in crisis. She said: "We maintain that 25% is the bare minimum amount necessary at this juncture, to stabilise the crisis in retention and recruitment. The 25% can easily be paid for from the £78 million saved by Government in crown court legal aid spending during the pandemic in 2020/21.
"Also, according to Bar Council calculations, the Legal Aid Agency spent £240m less in crime higher (serious crime) in 2020-21 than it did in 2019-20. Further, Government has profited £264m since 2010 by selling off 164 court buildings.
"That money should have been reinvested in the criminal justice system. Where has this money gone?
"A small amount of these figures would pay for an increase of an extra 10% on legal aid fees and on backlog cases. Extending the 15% recommended by Bellamy to ‘backlog cases’ would cost an additional £1.1 million a month – this is a tiny amount relative to the large savings in legal aid accumulated in recent years by cutting the system to the bone and selling off the courts."
Barrister Caitlin Evans spoke of how victims are suffering because of barristers’ action. She said: "The Government was warned of the delay to cases due to cuts to legal aid and to the criminal justice system for years before action. Afford to wait that long and hundreds more will leave in the meantime, resulting in even longer delays for victims.
"It was already becoming increasingly common for victims in serious sex cases to wait up to 1,500 days for the case to conclude.
"In the year to March 2022 there were over 1,000 trials across all criminal courts in England and Wales postponed at the last moment because there was no prosecuting or defence advocate available to deal with the case. That is due to a shortage caused by people leaving the profession in their droves due lack of funding.
"In the first quarter of 2022 more than 370 trials were postponed for the same reason. Of those 370 trials, over 100 were cases of sexual offences and violence in the crown court."
Mr Siva concluded: "We as barristers are used to speaking for others and fighting for the most vulnerable. And so we are here to fight for all those in the criminal justice system and all those who may be in it in future.
"We want to be there to defend and prosecute and deliver justice. But we can no longer work the long hours for the poor legal aid rates and allow our goodwill to continue to be exploited.
"This is the time for the criminal bar. This also is the time for the new Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor.
"He or she will be in post by tomorrow. We hope that whomever it is, steps up to their ministerial duties and meets with the leadership of our profession urgently.
"This crisis is of the government’s making and the solution lies in the hands of government. The CBA remains willing to resolve the crisis -as it has done all year.
"Until then, we are doing what we are trained to do - and that is to fight for justice for all."
Government's response
The Ministry of Justice previously said it had “repeatedly explained” to the CBA that backdating pay would require a “fundamental change” in how fees are paid, adding: “That reform would cost a disproportionate amount of taxpayers’ money and would take longer to implement, meaning barristers would have to wait longer for payment.”
Ministers and officials have branded the decision “irresponsible” and warned the action will cause “unnecessary disruption” which will only see more victims face further delays and distress while they wait for their cases to be dealt with by courts. Downing Street urged the CBA to rethink its plans.
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