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Lord Chancellor's Department
Press Notice
17 February 2000

 

MOVE TO END PAYMENT DISPARITY BETWEEN DEFENCE AND PROSECUTION ADVOCATES

The Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, and the Attorney General, Lord Williams of Mostyn, today announced their intention to remove the current disparity in fees paid to advocates employed on defence and prosecution work in criminal trials.

The Government has been concerned for some time that the higher fees paid to defence advocates is having an adverse effect on the standard of advocates undertaking prosecution work. There are disparities of up to 34% in favour of defence advocates, which are most marked in shorter cases.

Ministers believe that they have found a solution which will meet concerns over escalating expenditure and will contribute towards the Government's objective of promoting confidence in the Criminal Justice System.

The Lord Chancellor said:

"Lord Williams and I are agreed that the long term solution is to pay both prosecution and defence advocates within the same fee structure."

However, such a major change cannot be introduced overnight and the two Ministers have agreed to a series of progressive measures with this goal in mind:

CPS Fees - in April 2000 there will be targeted increases to the lowest CPS fees where the disparity is at its widest;

Graduated Fee Scheme - By October 2000, after consultation with the Bar Council, the Government intends:

- to introduce new graduated fee rates. This may result in a reduction to current rates for defence advocates, depending on the evidence gathered through consultation; and

- to extend the coverage of the current scheme from trials of up to 10 days in length to trials lasting up to 25 days; and

Unified Scheme - In April 2001, again after consultation with the Bar Council and other interested parties, the Government intends introduction of a unified scheme broadly based on the graduated fee scheme and covering all prosecution and defence cases of up to 25 days in length.

The Attorney General said:

"In the move toward equalisation we accept that there is an urgent need to improve the very lowest of CPS rates. The cases which will be paid at higher rates are at the lower end of the scale of seriousness, but by volume represent the bulk of the criminal cases prosecuted at the Crown Court. The increased funding for these cases will not remove the disparity but should encourage better representation and improved performance in both the early preparation and effective presentation of these prosecution cases."

The Lord Chancellor said:

"We have collected data which shows the success of the graduated fee scheme in achieving the predicted levels of coverage and control. We are therefore inclined to extend the graduated fee scheme to cover cases in the 11 to 25 day case range. We are aiming for this extension to take effect from October 2000.

"However, Lord Williams and I have come to the conclusion that the only way to prevent a recurrence of disparity at some levels is to adopt a single unified scheme for the prosecution and the defence.

"Our intention is that such a scheme, which we wish to introduce in April 2001 after consultation, should be based upon the current graduated fee scheme. Depending on the evidence gathered through consultation we expect such a scheme will probably result in a reduction to current rates for defence advocates."

David Calvert Smith QC, the Director of Public Prosecutions, said:

"I welcome this announcement, which takes forward the recommendations of Sir Iain Glidewell in his Review of the Crown Prosecution Service, and supports my long-held concern that a continuing disparity in fees risks a disparity in the quality of advocates that the CPS is able to instruct. I am delighted that the Government has responded to these concerns and look forward to the introduction of a unified scheme that will promote and maintain a proper balance in the level of representation in our adversarial system."

Notes to Editors

CPS standard and Pre-marked Fees

1. The CPS standard fees to be raised are those paid to junior advocates in the less complex cases, up to 3 days in length, rather than to QCs. Some CPS pre-marked fees in cases up to 10 days in length will also be increased

Graduated Fee Scheme

2. The Graduated Fee Scheme, introduced in January 1997 replaced a standard fee scheme similar to the one still used by the CPS. It covers nearly all cases heard in the Crown Court and lasting up to 10 days at trial. All advocates fees, including QCs fees are included in the scheme.

3. Payments under the Graduated Fee Scheme are calculated by reference to a number of factors:
- the offence type;
- the number of prosecution witnesses;
- the number of prosecution pages of evidence; and
- the length of trial.

4. It is intended to cover all the work normally undertaken by an advocate in a case including preparation, most conferences, and written advice as well as the advocacy itself.

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