Criminal bar fee plan 'would hit women barristers hardest'

The Ministry of Justice's plan for distributing £34m of extra criminal legal aid funding is facing a backlash from the Bar Council and Criminal Bar Association, who say the proposals will disadvantage women barristers and worsen the justice gap in rape and serious sexual offences (RASSO) cases.

Why the £34m package is controversial

Announced last December, the package is intended to strengthen the criminal barrister workforce and cut the Crown court backlog, which now stands at around 80,000 cases. It includes a 30% uplift for guilty pleas but no equivalent rise in the daily attendance fee for trials that run beyond a single day.

Representative bodies argue that this skews the money towards work that is more commonly done by male barristers. Guilty pleas are prevalent in drug and other volume crime cases, while RASSO trials — which often run for several days and require intensive preparation — are more frequently defended by women barristers.

'Women will suffer'

The Bar Council said women barristers who take on back-to-back RASSO trials would not benefit from the guilty-plea uplift and would suffer from the absence of any increase to the daily attendance fee. The Criminal Bar Association went further, warning that the plan could have a disastrous effect in driving practitioners out of RASSO work.

That exodus would increase the backlog in these cases, cause further victim attrition, and leave complainants facing attritional delay — undermining the government's stated mission to tackle violence against women and girls.

Retrospective restriction adds to anger

Both organisations are also furious that the proposed fee increases would apply only to new instructions received after the revised rates take effect. With the backlog already listing cases into 2029, many barristers will not see the benefit of the uplifts for years.

They point out that the Legal Aid Agency was able to apply previous fee increases to ongoing cases after the 2022 funding settlement, and question why the same approach is not being adopted now. Some of the £34m, which includes VAT, is also being used to fill a spending shortfall from that earlier settlement.

What the bar wants instead

The Bar Council and CBA are urging the government to raise daily attendance fees and to establish an annual review mechanism tied to inflation. The CBA notes that the Retail Prices Index has risen by 19.8% since 2022, while public sector pay has increased by 24.9% and Crown court judicial salaries by 22%.

Without a similar adjustment for criminal legal aid fees, they argue, the criminal bar will continue to lose experienced advocates to better-paid areas of law.

Consultation closes soon

The consultation on the Advocates' Graduated Fee Scheme reforms closes on 2 September. With the criminal bar already stretched by record backlogs and recruitment pressures, the final shape of the funding plan could determine whether enough barristers remain willing to do some of the most demanding work in the justice system.