In what is being described as a “disaster” by many criminal legal aid practitioners the Government has made what they say is the “final decision on a modified model of competitive tendering for criminal legal aid contracts.”

 

 

Earlier today the Lord Chancellor, Chris Grayling, released the Government’s response to the criminal legal aid consultation. According to the Ministry of Justice over 18,000 responses were received on the two consultation documents it published on the issue. Carol Storer, Director of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group, believes if the proposals are implemented they will have a “devastating impact on the numbers of firms and access to justice.”

 

 

Fee cuts will go ahead as planned, with the first cut of 8.75% being implemented on 20th March. A second fee cut will follow in June next year to coincide with the commencement of the new criminal contracts. Firms will be invited to tender for own client contracts in April and there will be a tender round for police station duty contracts in July.

 

 

The duty contracts represented the most significant change as they will be limited to 525 spread across 97 procurement areas. Until now the 1600 firms working in criminal legal aid employed staff or agents who held duty solicitor slots. Many were prepared to pay a premium to duty representatives to ensure they had a presence in the police station in order to pick-up more lucrative Crown Court cases. This will all change and we are likely to see the market consolidate into around half the number of firms we have now. The next stop could be price competitive tendering in the following contract round.

 

 

A few concessions have been made by the Government. These include interim payments for lengthy Crown Court Cases. Some adjustments were also made to the original proposals on fees, including a commitment to continue to pay fees in trials which do not go ahead at the last minute- known as cracked trials. The Criminal Law Solicitors’ Association has welcomed the decision not to introduce a flat fee for police station work or, in the magistrate’s court regardless of the plea, but they say these are small concessions “in the overall context of these catastrophic proposals.”

 

 

In its response to the announcement the Law Society has attempted to be more positive. It argues that the government has listened to its views. The Society though is in a difficult position, as it has used all of the options open to it to try and influence the government. It will stop short of fully supporting any strike action by its members, as it is fearful of the government taking legal action against it if it does so.

 

 

The timing of the announcement today, just over a week away from the day of action planned by both solicitors and barristers for 7th March, puts the government firmly on a collision course with the legal professions. How well supported the day action is, it includes boycott of the criminal courts (a strike in all but name), will decide whether the document published today is the final word or not on the cuts to criminal legal aid.