AGFS Announcement – 12.10.18

We will be submitting the Criminal Bar Association’s ‘Response’ to the current AGFS consultation today. It is the result of many hours of work, analysis and discussion with many members over the past weeks and months. Please take the time to read it in full. Special thanks are due to Jo Cecil and Sam Parham, but many have contributed.

In our response we make it clear that the delay is unacceptable and requires financial compensation, that £15 million (incl VAT), whilst it must be honoured in full, is inadequate to fix the many flaws in the new scheme. Substantial additional investment is urgently required.

We are at crisis point. A Heads of Chambers meeting will be convened for the last week of October.

Your hard work, skill and commitment have been undervalued for too long. We have sustained years of cuts, as the demands on us have increased, and our working conditions have deteriorated. The £15 million is the first step in a more positive direction but an extremely modest one.

The government plainly has the resources available; case volumes continue to fall. If the government cares about the criminal justice system it will respond positively and quickly. We have set out a number of options which would allow improvements in the proposed scheme. In relative terms they could be implemented at very low cost.

Yours,

Chris Henley QC, Chair

Caroline Goodwin QC, Vice Chair

The Executive Committee

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