Profession hits back over MoJ's expansion of the Public Defender Service
Ministers are expanding the Public Defender Service (PDS) to “break” the fees dispute, legal aid campaigners have claimed.
Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson said: “It looks like the ministry is trying to find a way to break the dispute with advocates over fees.
“Bringing criminal defence services in-house isn’t sustainable or desirable. Evidence shows that solicitors in private practice offer substantially better value for money than solicitor services delivered through the PDS.
“We continue to make the case to the Ministry of Justice that the most effective way to safeguard the future of high quality criminal defence is by facilitating a diverse supplier base and a market underpinned by client choice.”
Criminal barristers and solicitors are at loggerheads with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) over its plans to cut fees by betwee17.5% to 30%. Senior barristers have been declining briefs for very high cost cases (VHCCs) at the proposed rates, while both sections of the profession boycotted courts during a half-day protest earlier this month and have indicated they may stage another protest mid-February.
The PDS this week appointed silks Gregory Bull QC, previously of Red Lion Chambers and a former leader of the Wales and Chester Circuit from 2010 to 2013, and Alun Jenkins QC, of Queens’ Square Chambers, Bristol, to its ranks.
It is also advertising vacancies for QCs and senior and junior higher court advocates at salaries between £46,036 and £125,000 and with 23 days holiday a year, paid time off for public holidays, two and a half privilege days, pension, free eye tests and paid paternity, maternity and adoption leave.
Nigel Lithman QC, chair of the Criminal Bar Association, in his weekly blog, said he was “sad that people who have earned well over the previous years are abandoning the Juniors and sad to learn they have merely been paying lip service to this struggle.
“First, the few that might abandon their colleagues will not be able to do all the work. Secondly, it shows the MoJ will do anything rather than talk meaningfully to us.
“Thirdly, whilst these few are prepared to work for these cut rates, the MoJ shows itself really willing to destroy the Criminal Justice System. Client choice disappears at a stroke in this race to the bottom.”
Criminal barristers tweeted their concerns, including that the PDS will cost more than the existing system, will mean the state defending as well as prosecuting suspects, and will affect client choice.
Research in 2007 found that a PDS is one and half times to twice as expensive as private practice.
