The new criminal barrister’s strike would hurt victims of crime, according to the victim’s commissioner.
In a dispute with the government over employment and pay, barristers in England and Wales voted in favour of an all-out strike the next month.
The Criminal Bar Association’s (CBA) members have been striking on alternating weeks, but a vote was held to decide whether to intensify the labour dispute with a continuous, indefinite strike beginning on September 5.
It’s going to be very, very, very horrible for victims, said Dame Vera Baird on BBC Radio 4’s “World at One” programme. The victims are paying today, in fact.
“The Crown Court has a backlog of 59,000 cases, and it takes years to resolve cases involving rape or severely traumatised stabbing victims, for example.” If the barrister’s case is not decided at this point, everything merely ends. That line just keeps growing.
Due to mounting strain on the courts and the likelihood of more lawyer strike action, one claimed child rape victim might have to wait five years for her case to be resolved.
The Criminal Bar Association made a “disappointing judgement,” according to Downing Street, that will “force victims to wait longer for justice.”
Justice Minister Sarah Dines responded to the strike declaration by saying: “This is a reckless choice that will only cause more victims to experience more delays and misery.”
“Given that we are raising criminal barristers’ fees by 15%, which will result in the average barrister earning almost £7,000 extra a year,” the government claims, “the intensification of strike action is utterly unwarranted.”
The lawful strike is the latest in a summer of unrest that saw massive commuter disruption caused by rail walkouts by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA), ASLEF, and Transport for London (TfL) in July and August.
On August 26, 27, and 30, Post Office employees will be participating in industrial action, according to the Communication Workers Union (CWU). In a salary dispute, employees of BT and Openreach will also walk off the job, adding to the massive industrial action this summer by thousands of union members.
Since the CBA members started participating in industrial action, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab, who is on leave until Thursday while on vacation with his family in Surrey, has not met with them.
But a spokesperson said that he keeps in touch with Ministry of Justice (MoJ) representatives and will return to work later this week.
In August of last year, the former foreign secretary faced criticism for vacationing in Crete when the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan’s capital city Kabul.
Kirsty Brimelow, QC, the vice chairperson of the CBA, said that this is a “last-resort move” in response to a demand for less money than it costs the Government for the courts to be vacant.
According to Ms. Brimelow, the problem may be solved by injecting money into the cases that barristers are working on.
The result of the strike, according to the lawyer, will be that trials and cases won’t be heard in courtrooms as they continue to be vacant. It is a last-ditch effort.
The solution, which would only cost the government £1.1 million a month, is to pump funds into the 60,000 cases that barristers are now working through in the backlog.
“At the moment, it costs significantly more for the courts to remain vacant.”
More barristers voted in the March (1,908) and June (2,273) elections, according to the CBA (2,055). Nearly 80% (1,808) of voters in the most recent poll supported increasing the strike, compared to 11% (258) who supported keeping things as they were, and 9% (207) who supported ending the strikes.
More than 6,000 court hearings have been postponed as a consequence of the disagreement over terms and government-imposed costs for legal aid advocacy work, according to Ministry of Justice (MoJ) statistics.
In England and Wales, there were 6,235 court cases affected during the first 19 days of industrial action, between June 27 and August 5, including 1,415 trials, according to data made available under freedom of information legislation.
From the end of September, criminal barristers will start receiving a 15% fee increase, which would increase their annual salary by £7,000.
There is, however, resentment that the planned salary increase will not take effect right now and that it would only apply to new cases, not to those that are already pending in court backlogs.
Backdating pay would necessitate a “fundamental change” in how fees are paid, according to the MoJ, which previously claimed to have “repeatedly explained” this to the CBA. The MoJ continued, “That reform would cost a disproportionate amount of taxpayers’ money and take longer to implement, meaning barristers would have to wait longer for payment.”
Dame Vera, who served as Labour’s Solicitor General from 2005 to 2010, laid the responsibility for the epidemic on the “chronic underfunding of the courts.” She said that because of the lengthy delays, witnesses and victims are “falling out” of criminal cases. Many individuals are already coming to the conclusion that their lives can no longer be put on wait because of it, and this is only going to increase.
According to what I gather, there is not a significant disagreement between the Bar and the Government; rather, it is a matter of time. It is time for the administration to discuss a solution with the Criminal Bar Association.
This is not the Rolls Royce end of the legal system, where there are exorbitant expenses. The Nissan end of regularly financed crime may be found here. You enter the situation knowing that you wish to aid justice. It is not about the wealthy requesting more. The bottom has just dropped out of the field.
That is a very severe breach; enormous harm to our criminal justice system, of which really we’ve been globally proud for many years, but can’t be proud for much longer. She criticised the Government’s “reckless refusal” to “pay up,” adding:
Due to lengthy court backlogs, more victims may withdraw from cases and more perpetrators may roam the streets, according to the Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales.
When asked about the potential impact of the criminal barristers’ strike on backlogs by BBC Radio 4’s World at One, Dame Vera Baird responded, “The under-funding of the courts, which has been systemic since long before the pandemic, is already leading to a lot of people thinking that their lives can’t remain on hold any longer and they are dropping out.”
“That will undoubtedly occur more often.”
Consider the opposite side, said Dame Vera. “Obviously, not everyone who is accused in a case is guilty, but the CPS would say they convict roughly 60% or 70% of cases.”
That implies that suspects who may be guilty will continue to roam the streets since no matter how serious their alleged behaviour, persons cannot be detained for an extended period of time.
In comparison to what the Public Accounts Committee has referred to as “meagre money,” the cost to society of not having severe matters resolved is enormous. It truly has to be addressed right now.
Sir Keir Starmer, leader of Labour, said that the Government was doing “absolutely nothing” to settle labour conflicts, such as the one involving criminal barristers.
According to the former director of public prosecutions, “I totally see, whether it’s barristers or others, why individuals and how people are suffering to make ends meet” (Walthamstow, London).
What I want to see is that the government acknowledges this, takes action to address it, and finds solutions to these problems, in whatever area they may be.
He said, “Instead of that, we have a Government doing absolutely nothing.” I want to see the government intervene and truly assist in resolving these difficulties, he said.
Sir Keir Starmer said when asked whether Labour MPs would be permitted to walk with lawyers on the picket line: “What I understand is why so many individuals, whether it’s barristers or others, are trying to make ends meet.
We have skyrocketing costs, stagnating salaries, and a government that is doing nothing, so that may be in the train sector, the criminal justice sector, or other areas of the nation.
When questioned by the PA news agency about whether Labour MPs will be permitted to participate in picket lines, he said, “My emphasis of attack is on the Government for not doing anything to tackle these concerns.”
The Criminal Bar Association made a “disappointing judgement,” according to Downing Street, that will “force victims to wait longer for justice.”
Speaking on behalf of No. 10, a spokesman said: “This is especially frustrating considering that we have been trying to reduce pandemic backlogs and we had seen them lessening.”
We have stated the wage rise that will take effect in September and ask the Criminal Bar Association to reconsider their proposals.
When asked where Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary Dominic Raab was, the spokesperson said, “I’m not aware of the DPM’s travels.”