The Criminal Bar Association, which represents lawyers who prosecute and defend those accused of crimes in England and Wales, said its members backed a plan to strike “indefinitely” from Monday 5 September. Along with rail staff, teachers and civil servants are supporting or considering industrial action in the coming months, at a time when wages are lagging behind a four-decade high rate of inflation. The CBA said its members had suffered an average cut in earnings of 28% since 2006 – adjusted for inflation – and accused the government of refusing to engage in negotiations “aimed at finding a fair settlement”. Criminal lawyers are to receive a 15% pay rise from the end of September, meaning they will earn £7,000 more a year. However, there was anger that the proposed pay rise would not take effect immediately and would only apply to new cases, not those already waiting to be processed by the courts. Criminal lawyer Jennifer Devans-Tamakloe told Sky News the 15% rise “doesn’t come close” to the 28% drop in income over the past 16 years – and the 25% increase lawyers are fighting for – which she said was “reasonable, justified, proportionate and necessary”. He said: “What we have to consider as self-employed is – I came to Wolverhampton today which is not my court. I pay my own expenses to get here in advance. Nobody helps me with that. Now if they travel all over country as people from my chambers do, and people from many other chambers do, you have to take these costs up front, you have to do all the preparatory work that is simply not covered by the fees that you end up getting at the end of the process. “The government needs to understand the difficulties criminal lawyers like me face.” CBA members walked out for alternate weeks but voted on whether to escalate industrial action. The 14-day ballot closed at midnight on Sunday and the result was announced on Monday morning. A total of 2,273 members voted overwhelmingly – around 80% – in favor of an uninterrupted strike. CBA vice-president Kirsty Brimelow QC said it was an “action of last resort”. “The solution is to inject money into the 60,000 case backlog that lawyers are working on and it will only cost the government £1.1m a month,” he told BBC Breakfast. “At the moment, it costs a lot more for stadiums to be empty.” Justice Minister Sarah Dines said the escalation of the strike was “totally unwarranted” given the pending fee increase. “This is an irresponsible decision that will see more victims face further delay and anguish,” he said. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) previously said it had “repeatedly explained” to the CBA that retroactive pay would require a “fundamental change” to the way fees are paid, adding: “This reform would cost a disproportionate amount of taxpayers’ money and it takes longer to implement, which means lawyers will have to wait longer for payment.” More than 6,000 court hearings have been stalled as a result of the dispute over terms and state fees for legal aid advocacy work, according to Justice Department figures. Figures released under freedom of information laws show that in the first 19 days of industrial action – between June 27 and August 5 – 6,235 court cases were adjourned, including 1,415 trials.
