First Annual ‘CLAAB’ Report and MOJ statement on criminal law fees – 14.11.24

Publication of Criminal Legal Aid Advisory’s first annual report and MOJ statement on criminal law fees.

Statement from the Chair of the Criminal Bar Association, Mary Prior KC:

We welcome the publication of the Criminal Legal Aid Advisory Board’s first annual report on 14th November 2024 and look forward to the Government’s swift implementation of its recommendations for criminal barristers of an immediate increase in fees for the ten most serious sexual offences, together with a minimum uplift of 10% to fees across the board. 

This report must be the starting point for the CBA and Bar Council’s unified demand for a minimum increase of 15% in criminal barristers’ fees for defence fees which must be matched with identical increases in the fees for prosecuting these cases. The Lord Chancellor has stated that the raises to fees for the police station and youth court are the “first step to stabilising the sector and ensuring that those who take on these cases are properly compensated for their work.” The same approach must apply to the criminal Bar. 

We would urge ministers to read the remainder of the CLAAB report which sets out precisely what the criminal Bar has been saying for years. It explains that there are insufficient criminal barristers and the profession is not growing as quickly as is required to continue to meet the caseload. It describes the “unsustainable disparity between the earnings at the criminal Bar and the Bar as a whole.”

Mary Prior KC

Chair

Criminal Bar Association