Act Now for the Future of Criminal Legal Aid

For many years dedicated Solicitors practising in the field of Criminal Law have been providing representation 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, under a public funding regime which has been cut and diminished year after year. It has long since past the point when this work for providers is largely unprofitable and it has only been the committment of many solicitors that has kept them working in this sector. A significant number of younger lawyers have chosen in the end not to pursue a career in the criminal law, and this has led to a crisis in the duty solicitor scheme with the age range of solicitors on the panels being much closer to retirement age than where it should be.

This is turn has been accompanied by a significant underfunding of the criminal justice system which even before covid was leading to significant delay and collapse and with the added pressure of the last 14 months now finds itself in melt down.

Following repeated calls for action from not only Solicitors but all sectors of the legal community, the ministry of Justice has finally committed to act and an Independent Review of Legal Aid has been established.

This then represents the moment for all Solicitors and Lawyers to contribute to the review and provide direct evidence of their experiences and issues to the Independent Review which is chaired by Sir Christopher Bellamy

The call for evidence deadline has been extended to Friday 28 May 2021.

Sir Christopher is keen to hear from as many individuals and organisations working at the heart of the criminal legal aid system as possible.

This gives interested parties an opportunity to contribute evidence and ideas for consideration as part of the review. We strongly urge members to contribute to this review both as a firm and individually, every voice needs to be heard.

Put simply it would be criminal not to take this opportunity to change the future of criminal legal aid funding for the good