The government has taken the rare step of reversing legal aid cuts, after 12 solicitors in rural west Wales were told their fixed fees were being slashed by 25%.
In July Dyfed Powys Police determined that any person arrested in Llanelli, Ammanford, Carmarthen and surrounding areas would be taken to the new Bridewell custody unit at Dafen. Some weeks later, four firms on the Amman Valley duty solicitor rota received an email from the Legal Aid Agency stating that they should be using the fee code for Llanelli police station – which is £159.50. This represented a 24.79% fee reduction on existing rates.
The solicitors’ offices had not moved and the service remained the same – the only change was police station location.
Following representations by the Law Society and local practitioners, the Ministry of Justice has intervened to increase police station fixed fees in Llanelli. Society president Nick Emmerson said: ‘We are pleased that the MoJ has responded to our calls to restore fees to their previous rates for the four affected law firms. Duty solicitors work hard with very little resources to help people at crisis point. We were concerned the arbitrary cuts to their fees would be the death knell for legal aid in an area long considered an advice desert for criminal practitioners.
‘Our members told us the fee cuts meant it was no longer economically viable for law firms covering this part of Wales to provide criminal legal aid.’
The relevant statutory instrument will only take effect on cases started after it was laid. This means the solicitors will not be reimbursed the difference between the two rates for work that was carried out at the lower fee.
