Criminal barristers in England and Wales are on strike. What does this mean for the justice system?

Have you ever heard someone say "I would like to become a criminal barrister, however, the pay is not worth it"?

That saying cannot be more relevant today. In England and Wales today, criminal barristers start an indefinite, uninterrupted strike, in an escalation of tensions with the government over the level of pay for legal aid work.

How much criminal barristers get paid when defending those who qualify for legal aid work is currently decided by the government. Following the Independent Review of Criminal Legal Aid in 2021, it was concluded that funding should be increased for solicitors and barristers as soon as possible to an annual level of at least 15% above the present levels.

While the government agreed to invest an extra £135 million a year into the criminal legal aid sector and an increase in fees by 15%, The Criminal Bar Association (CBA), has requested a 25% pay rise from the government, arguing that with inflation at around 10%, a 15% rise in fees will be inadequate.

The major consequences of this strike are bound to be increasing court backlogs in England and Wales, which stood at 58,973 outstanding cases in June 2022, as well as a loss of talent and interest in the criminal bar, especially considering record pay rises in corporate law firms with competing salaries of £180k as the highest newly qualified wages.

While the government has labelled the strike as irresponsible, criminal barristers say that they are saving the criminal justice system from complete collapse and attempting to avoid the decline of junior criminal barristers who just can't survive on legal aid rates.

Statistics show that the number of criminal barristers is reducing each year. In the first three months of this year alone, 370 scheduled trials were postponed due to a shortage of prosecution and defence lawyers - and 48 because of a lack of judges.

According to Ministry of Justice figures, 6,235 court hearings were disrupted by the strikes between 27 June and 5 August, including 1,415 trials. These figures are likely to worsen in the upcoming months.