Earlier this month, the Magistrates’ Association (MA) published a response to the Ministry of Justice’s consultation on proposed criminal legal aid reforms.
The reforms address Sir Christopher Bellamy QC’s key recommendations arising from his 2021 independent review into criminal legal aid, and comprise a variety of fee- and non-fee-based measures that aim to make the criminal defence profession more sustainable amid ongoing planned industrial action. Among others, these include a 15 per cent increase for all legal aid fee schemes (excluding prison law and specific parts of the Litigators Graduated Fee Scheme) and the enhanced use of efficiency-generating technologies.
The MA’s response makes the following broad points:
- An increase in fees across most legal aid fee schemes is welcome as it will help to address the crisis of unrepresented defendants in magistrates’ courts.
- Technology has great capacity to enhance the efficiency of the criminal justice system, but investment in infrastructure and strong-performing, user-friendly technologies is required.
- A trial involving automatic ‘opt-in’ for legal advice – which would see a youth offender receive advice without opting in – is encouraged.
- An increase of police station fees is needed as it will greatly enhance the quality of pre-court advice.
- Accreditation for advocates operating in the youth court should not be required as it may disincentivise such activities.
- The proposed Advisory Board on legal aid is a positive step.
The charity will monitor the progress of these proposals and developments on legal aid more broadly, and respond as required.
