LONDON (Bywire News) - The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) is currently taking direct action against the government over its decimation of Legal Aid. This has been ongoing since April. So far, the government has refused to concede ground. So, the CBA is once more balloting members – with a view to increasing the direct action it’s taking.
Legal Aid: years of decimation
As Bywire News has been following, the CBA has been taking direct action, in the form of refusing return work. This has been ongoing since April 11 and involves barristers not accepting extra work that is not booked in with them – for example, if a trial overrun or another barrister ends up being double booked and has to drop a case.
The CBA got to this point because of successive government cuts to, and disregard for, Legal Aid. An independent review found that it needed to inject at least £135m immediately into the system. The government’s response was to dither and delay its report on the review’s findings; eventually publishing this on March 15.
Some legal professionals called it a “masterclass in deception” – saying that the 15% funding increase it offered was not what the independent review explicitly said was needed and that it wasn’t enough, anyway. Then, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) effectively tried to strike-break the CBA by encouraging law firms to pick up return cases – or ‘scab’ if you prefer. This is because the CBA’s action was working: the criminal justice and courts system has already become backlogged and many other professionals have been supportive of the action.
Government “intransigence”
But so far, the government is refusing to budge. As chair of the CBA Jo Sidhu QC wrote, it has:
“received numerous emails and calls from criminal barristers at all levels of seniority expressing their dismay at the intransigence of Government in the face of our concerted efforts to slow the progression of cases in the Crown Court”.
He also said that the ‘no returns’ action:
“was a minimum response to the continuing refusal of Government to accede to our legitimate demands for a fair settlement”.
So, the CBA’s minimum response has effectively had its day. Now, it’s been seeking members' opinions on what should happen next. The CBA has been holding a series of Zoom meetings where its members have been able to express their ideas on what course of action it should take next. These will then be discussed at a meeting on June 9. Originally, this all was supposed to have culminated in the CBA sending out a ballot “later in June” asking members to vote on further direct action.
High stakes
But the CBA has brought this ballot forward. It will now issue it on Saturday June 11, with an eight-day window for members to respond before it closes. As Sidhu wrote:
“The stakes could not be higher”.
Given the CBA’s fluid position in moving the ballot forward at short notice, clearly, it is a) rapidly responding to members’ concerns, and b) matching the gravity of the situation with action. With lawyers in London also currently undertaking direct action over Legal Aid, the government is facing a summer of discontent from the legal profession. How much longer it can remain entrenched in its position before the criminal justice system collapses around it remains to be seen.
(Writing by Steve Topple, editing by Klaudia Fior)