8:30am Saturday 13th March 2010
By James Savage
A WORCESTER solicitor has said the huge legal aid bill is not a result of rising defence costs and insists advocates are not “milking the system”.
We reported in your Worcester News on Mon-day how more than £25 million was paid out in legal aid fees to solicitors at Worcester crown and magistrates court over the past four years.
Figures released under the Freedom of Infor-mation Act revealed the number of cases claiming legal aid at Worcester Crown Court fell by 1,488 between 2006 and 2009 – but the cost has risen by more than £1.1 million.
At magistrates court the average cost per case has actually fallen from £496 in 2006 to £397 in 2009.
Carolyn Regan, the head of the Legal Services Commission, resigned last week after ministers said they were bringing its £2.1 million annual budget under closer government control.
Ruth Edwards, partner at Thursfields Solicitors in Foregate Street, Worces-ter, said they claim fixed legal aid costs when representing in the magistrates court or at a police station.
Ms Edwards said an average case in the magistrates court, involving four or five hours’ work, would result in a fixed legal aid fee, usually less than £200.
Ms Edwards said: “Everybody seems to think lawyers are fat cats but that is not the case when we are doing public- funded work – legal aid lawyers are not milking the system.
“There are some QCs working in the crown court who are earning huge amounts of money but for the advocates working in the magistrates court every day those fees are unheard of.”
She said the commission introduced a complicated system where solicitors are paid per page of prosecution evidence.
“The previous system was a lot simpler. There used to be an hourly rate system and you put a claim in for how much work you had done,” she said.
“Getting paid per page is a ridiculous system and is far too bureaucratic. There will be some cases which are very complex and time consuming but don’t have a lot of prosecution evidence.
“Others will be fairly straightforward with lots of paperwork.”
She said immigration, housing, debt, and complex family cases in the county courts are taking up a large portion of the legal aid budget with no rise in criminal legal aid rates over the past 10 years.
She said the majority of solicitors were motivated by a sense of social conscience.
Ms Edwards said last week’s announcement to bring the commission back under the wing of the Ministry of Justice could result in a positive change.
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