The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has scrapped its contract for very high-cost criminal cases (VHCCs) after just 130 barristers signed up. Instead it is putting together a new line-up that will offer barristers a second chance to join the panel.

The MoJ and the Legal Services Commission (LSC) are consulting on the new contract after the poor take-up rate and plan to send it out next week, effectively cancelling the agreement with those barristers and solicitors that already signed up.

Around 2,300 barristers were given the chance to agree to the original contract – which was intended to reduce fees in major criminal cases – when it was sent out in
January.

While it was unpopular with barristers, virtually all of the 330 law firms that applied for the panel signed up.

In a letter to the profession, Bar Council chairman Timothy Dutton QC commented: "As things stand, no solicitor or barrister has entered into a binding contract with the LSC.

"This is because the LSC has held onto the signed contracts and has not itself signed and returned them. Instead, the LSC proposes a new variant on the scheme."

Under the new terms, solicitors will be paid by the LSC for advocacy services and will in turn be able to negotiate the fees they pay non-panel barristers. The maximum rates will be those on the VHCC contract.

The Bar Council was angered after the LSC denied the Bar's overarching body an extension to consult on the new proposals.

The VHCC contract offers QCs a rate of £476 for each day spent in court. Top junior barristers will receive £390, and a junior acting alone will be paid £285 per day. For preparatory work, silks will earn £91-£145 an hour.

Commenting on the news, legal aid minister Lord Hunt of Kings Heath said: "I hope those members of the Bar who bid for contracts but then chose not to sign them will now reconsider their position."