Duty Solicitor Scheme

Opened the debate

The duty solicitor scheme in England and Wales is in crisis with more than 1,400 duty solicitors leaving the rota since 2017. In Devon and Cornwall alone, numbers have dropped from 109 to 78, and the forecast for 2027 is 64. Nationally, less than 4% of duty solicitors are under 35 years old, with the average age being 49. This shortage affects regions like Cornwall, Lincolnshire, Wiltshire, Worcestershire, Norfolk, Shropshire, and Warwickshire where no one under 35 is practising criminal law.

Government Response

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Betts. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Torbay (Kevin Foster) for securing this debate, and for his focus on this important matter. I will begin by commending criminal legal aid solicitors for the invaluable work that they do across the whole criminal justice system. Legal aid is a fundamental pillar of our free and fair justice system. It underpins the rule of law so that ordinary citizens can uphold their rights and liberties. In the criminal justice system it supports those charged with an offence to defend themselves, and assures that the allegations made against them are properly tested. Criminal legal aid solicitors play a vital role in ensuring that the system works. In England and Wales, two duty solicitor schemes operate in parallel: the police station duty solicitor scheme enables a person who is arrested on suspicion of a criminal offence to consult a solicitor free of charge, either in person or over the telephone, while in police custody; the court duty solicitor scheme allows a person who has already been charged with an offence to consult and be represented by a solicitor free of charge at the magistrates court on their first appearance if they do not have, or have simply not contacted, their own solicitor. Since September 2022, criminal legal aid fee schemes were uplifted by 15%, including a 15% increase to the police station scheme and the magistrates court scheme, which includes youth court work. In fact, between October 2022 and April 2023, the number of duty solicitors rose by about 7.5%. An additional £21.1 million per year has been allocated for proposed reforms to the police station fee scheme and the youth court fees, which will increase investment in the solicitor profession by about £85 million every year. The overall spend for criminal legal aid is expected to be up to £1.2 billion per year—the highest level of investment in criminal legal aid in a decade. I share my hon. Friend's concerns about the reduction in the number of duty solicitors, notwithstanding the recent increase. I assure my hon. Friend that although the numbers of solicitors firms offering criminal legal aid and offices delivering the service have declined, police station and court duty solicitor schemes remain fully covered. We are currently working with stakeholders through a sub-group of the Criminal Legal Aid Advisory Board on reform of the LGFS to address the perverse incentives identified by CLAIR. One aim of the reform is to address the perverse incentives of pages of prosecution evidence identified by CLAIR, which we are aiming to consult on later this year. The chair of CLAAB has increased the numbers on the board to include younger practitioners both at the criminal Bar and in the solicitor sector, which will hopefully help to inform decisions so that we can ensure a flow of younger solicitors into the criminal representation side of the justice system.