criminal

The radical step of barristers striking over pay was a huge issue and had a direct impact on everyone involved in the criminal legal system. It was a high profile news story and was covered by a lot of the national newspapers as well as legal publications.

Criminal Bar Strike

Barrister strikes have caused a lot of problems and disruption. Barristers conduct a great number of court hearings and without them there, hearings are having to be put back or are going ahead without representation. This affects defendants, victims, witnesses, and the professionals involved in bringing and disposing of a criminal claim in court.

In early April 2018, criminal barristers took strike action due to what they believed were inadequate fees for carrying out work. On 1 April 2018, a new system of paying barristers in criminal legal aid cases was introduced. It was considered unfair by the barristers as it introduced low fees and did not take into account the actual time spent in preparing cases and reviewing evidence. The strike was in part due to this but also due to concerns about slashed government funding of the criminal court system generally.

In June 2018, by a very narrow margin, barristers voted in favour of lifting the strike, following a package being put forward by the Ministry of Justice. The package was to put an additional £15 million into the funding pot, with the aim of raising the fees barristers are paid for reading evidence and documents in trials. The vote took place through the Criminal Bar Association and it is believed most of the barristers carrying out criminal work voted.

The concern was that over the past ten years or so, fees have reduced and a great deal more time spent on material and documents by barristers, is not paid for. Longer hours for surprisingly low pay.

It is likely that the issue of funding will be raised again and current package will only be a stop gap. There will be more obstacles to overcome in the future.