James Joseph is a UK staff correspondent for JURIST.
The Bar Council of England and Wales announced Saturday they have secured necessary additional funding from His Majesty’s Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, allowing them to “press ahead with increases in prosecution fees to restore parity with defence fees”.
BREAKING NEWS from #BarCouncil – DPP @MaxHillKC announces that he is pleased to confirm that additional funding has been secured and "we can now press ahead to restore parity [of prosecution fees] with defence fees." A strong and evidence-based case was made to the Treasury.
— The Bar Council (@thebarcouncil) February 4, 2023
Announcing on Twitter, the Director of Public Prosecutions Max Hill KC said:
As I have just confirmed with @thebarcouncil we have secured necessary additional funding from @hmtreasury allowing us to press ahead with increases in prosecution fees to restore parity with defence fees. @TheCriminalBar @CPSUK
— Max Hill KC (@MaxHillKC) February 4, 2023
The statement from the Bar Council reads “[The Director of Public Prosecutions] announces that prosecution barristers’ fees will increase to achieve parity with the defence. This has been hard fought for by The Criminal Bar alongside the PS and the Bar Council and with support by key politicians. The CBA already is working on the detail alongside the CPS.”
This comes as The Treasury confirmed the increase to legal aid will be 15% and that the operational period is 8 weeks, applying to hearings after implementation date.
The Criminal Bar Association also tweeted to say that that the increase “will apply to backlog cases and The Criminal Bar is pushing for sooner-having previously managed to reduce original timeline of 12 weeks but reiterates thanks to Crown Prosecution Service & politicians & His Majesty’s Treasury for the increase achieved.
