Criminal barristers in England and Wales have voted to suspend strike action after accepting a Government pay offer
(Picture: PA Wire)The backlog of criminal cases in the Crown Courts of England and Wales reached a new record-high of more than 61,000 during the government’s stand-off with barristers over Legal Aid, it has been revealed.
New figures show there were 61,212 cases in the justice system in August, after a rise of nearly 1,000 in a month and an overall hike of more than 3,000 since March this year.
Barristers in the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) voted to take disruptive industrial action in April this year, after rejecting Boris Johnson’s government’s initial offer on new Legal Aid fees.
Then-Justice Secretary Dominic Raab refused to speak to the CBA as the dispute escalated, leading to barristers voting to go on all-out strike in August.
Thousands of hearings and trials had to be adjourned as the row continued, as defendants turned up to court without a Legal Aid-funded barrister to represent them.
The courts are now routinely setting trials in 2024, with many defendants, witnesses, and alleged victims facing more than a year to wait for their case to be heard.
The stand-off was settled this week after talks between new Justice Secretary Brandon Lewis and the CBA. Barristers voted in favour of suspending the strike and accepting a new fees deal.
Under the agreement, Legal Aid fees will rise by 15 per cent, with the hike applying to the existing backlog of cases in the system.
However, the vote to suspend industrial action was only carried by a 57 per cent majority, leaving many barristers disgruntled and carefully monitoring the government’s future management of Legal Aid budgets.
Despite easing of tensions with barristers, the Ministry of Justice still faces significant unrest across the legal sector over Legal Aid and its flagship IT reforms.
On Monday, the Law Society of England and Wales – which represents solicitors - said it would advise members not to take on Legal Aid work from November unless a similar pay deal to the barristers is offered.
The body says solicitors are currently only being offered a nine per cent fee increase, and outgoing Law Society president I. Stephanie Boyce insisted “money must be found to give solicitors parity”.
“Solicitors are the backbone of the crisis-hit criminal justice system. They will see that the government has found a magic money tree to stop the disruptive action of barristers – money that was not available to pay solicitors fairly.
“Our members will see that disruptive action achieves results that hard evidence and constructive engagement do not.”
Legal advisors and staff at magistrates courts around the country are also in open revolt over the rollout of the MoJ’s Common Platform IT system.
Members of the Public and Commercial Services Union have voted to go on strike in the last week in October unless the rollout is stopped to allow for improvements.
Staff at courts including Wimbledon, Willesden, Ealing, Uxbridge, and Lavender Hill magistrates court are among those who are planning to strike.
The crown court backlog was allowed to grow in 2019 with funding cuts and the reduction in court sitting days, before the problems were exacerbated by the effects on courts of Covid-19.
“Now that barristers have agreed to return to work we can work together to drive down the backlog and ensure victims see justice served sooner”, a Ministry of Justice spokesperson said.
“Our package of extra investment for barristers and solicitors, and measures such as unlimited sitting days and increasing magistrates’ sentencing powers, will help us to recover from the pandemic-induced backlog.”
