Govt ups high-cost case rates after crisis talks

The Government has increased rates for advocates on very high-cost criminal cases (VHCC) following crisis talks after a majority of barristers boycotted the panel over poor fee arrangements. As a result of talks between the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the Bar Council, the Law Society and the Legal Services Commission (LSC), hourly rates for a QC or senior solicitor have increased from £145 to £152.50, while a QCs rate of £476 for each day spent in court has risen to £500.The shortage of barristers - only 110 advocates out of the 2,300 offered contracts signed up by April because of the reduced fees - had left a number of major criminal trials at risk of disruption and delay.

October 27, 2008 at 10:12 AM

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The Government has increased rates for advocates on very high-cost criminal cases (VHCC) following crisis talks after a majority of barristers boycotted the panel over poor fee arrangements.

As a result of talks between the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the Bar Council, the Law Society and the Legal Services Commission (LSC), hourly rates for a QC or senior solicitor have increased from £145 to £152.50, while a QCs rate of £476 for each day spent in court has risen to £500.

The shortage of barristers – only 110 advocates out of the 2,300 offered contracts signed up by April because of the reduced fees – had left a number of major criminal trials at risk of disruption and delay.

The rise in rates is an interim solution before an improved scheme comes into effect next July when the current scheme, introduced in January 2008, expires.

Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor Jack Straw (pictured) said: "It is my aim to ensure that trials during the next six months should proceed without delay. So far no trial has been held up or aborted. I encourage all parties to the negotiations to redouble their efforts so that a new scheme is in place by July 2009. It is my hope that, until that time, the new rates will ensure that high quality advocates return to doing these cases."

The Bar Council wants to see a graduated fees system introduced in July which would effectively remunerate advocates per case rather than by the hour.

Bar Council chairman Timothy Dutton said: "By careful examination of the Legal Aid budget we have, with the MoJ, found ways of saving money so as to make a modest interim improvement for VHCC cases pending a new scheme."

He added: "We are against the continuing use of hourly rates of pay in these cases, as they reward the least efficient, and are inflationary. We therefore welcome the MoJ's commitment to introducing a new scheme next July, which can attract quality advocates."

The Law Society president Paul Marsh expressed disappointment that the Government has "given such high priority to the concerns of senior barristers at a time when solicitors' firms working at the coalface are worried about their very survival."

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