Barristers in England and Wales are to strike today (27 June) in a dispute over legal aid funding.
According to the Criminal Bar Association, 81.5% of its over 2,000 members supported the action in a ballot.
During the strikes, participating barristers will not accept new cases or take on work for colleagues whose cases have overrun, known as “returns”.
The strikes will take place outside the Central Criminal Court in London, Birmingham Crown Court, Manchester Crown Court, Leeds Crown Court, Bristol Crown Court and Cardiff Crown Court.
The government has confirmed that it will increase its legal aid budget – which effectively pays for a barrister’s time if a client cannot afford to be represented – by 15% later this year.
The CBA is campaigning for a 25% increase, claiming barristers have already suffered an average decrease in real earnings of 28% since 2006.
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Average earnings from legal aid collapsed by 23% during a single year of the pandemic, it said, with many barristers forced to use up savings to mitigate loss of income.
The CBA wants the government to introduce the increase immediately, with deputy chair Kirsty Brimelow describing the government’s delay on this as a “leisurely timetable”, and “kicking the can down the road”. The CBA estimates that almost 40% of junior barristers have left the bar in the past year.
According to the HM Courts and Tribunals Service, there was a backlog of 58,271 cases at the end of April this year. Almost 600 criminal trials were unable to go ahead in 2021 because there were no barristers to prosecute or defend them, the CBA said.
Justice secretary Dominic Raab said the strikes were “regrettable” and would delay justice for victims.
He urged barristers to agree to “the proposed 15% pay rise which would see a typical barrister earn around £7,000 more a year”.
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However, Brimelow told the BBC Today programme that this rise would not be seen until the end of 2023 as it would not be applied to backlogged cases.
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