THE BATTLE FOR LEGAL AID CONTINUES…

Here at LNTV HQ we continue to watch the developments as our friends and fellow legal professionals keep up the pressure against the further cuts to legal aid with their boycott.  Here’s how the Law Society Gazette continued its reporting of it this week:

Action day 27: barristers officially join legal aid boycott: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/action-day-27-barristers-officially-join-legal-aid-boycott/5050288.article

Action day 28: SRA issues warning over legal aid action: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/action-day-28-sra-issues-warning-over-legal-aid-action/5050292.article

Action day 29: SRA warning prompts revised protocol: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/action-day-29-sra-warning-prompts-revised-protocol/5050322.article

Action day 30: More talks with MoJ on Monday: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/action-day-30-more-talks-with-moj-on-monday/5050353.article

Criminal Law Solicitors’ Association: http://www.clsa.co.uk/

London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association: https://www.lccsa.org.uk/

The Criminal Bar Association: https://www.criminalbar.com/

THE BATTLE FOR LEGAL AID

Here at LNTV HQ we have watched with interest, and it has to be said a certain amount of pride, as our fellow solicitors, and now barristers, took a stand and started a direct action duty boycott against the second cut to legal aid and the reduction in the number of contracts for solicitors who provide 24-hour cover in police stations.  This is the timeline of action so far:

• 10th June – Legal aid minister Shailesh Vara confirms a further 8.75% cut to legal aid from 1st July 2015, and a reduction in the number of contracts for solicitors providing 24-hour representation at police stations, down from 1,600 to 527
• 13th June – The Criminal Law Solicitors’ Association and the London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association open a ballot on refusing work under the 1st July rates
• 30th June – the Ministry of Justice offers practitioner groups a meeting to discuss ‘broader ideas’ to improve the criminal justice system
• 1st July – The national protest against legal aid fee cuts begins
• 14th July – Solicitors vote overwhelmingly in favour of refusing new work with a representation order dated from 1st July onwards.  In practical terms this means solicitors withdrawing completely from duty solicitor work
• The Criminal Bar Association announce the results of their ballot – members voted in favour of no new work by 982 votes to 795.  The Lord Chancellor told MPs he was disappointed at the poll results
• The Criminal Bar Association executive recommends action begin on 27th July

The Law Society Gazette has provided extensive coverage of the boycott:

Action day 7: MoJ ‘offers talks’ – but not about fee cuts: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/action-day-7-moj-offers-talks-but-not-about-fee-cuts/5049861.fullarticle

Action day 8: Gove meets big legal aid firms: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/action-day-8-gove-meets-big-legal-aid-firms/5049891.fullarticle

Action day 10: MoJ denies manipulating legal aid figures: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/action-day-10-moj-denies-manipulating-legal-aid-figures/5049956.fullarticle

Action day 13: firms consider duty boycott: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/action-day-13-firms-consider-duty-boycott/5049984.fullarticle

Action day 14: judges query absence of solicitors: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/force-lawyers-into-pro-bono-think-tank/law/action-day-14-manchester-legal-aid-lawyers-stand-united/5049985.article

89-call hunt for solicitor as protest bites: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/practice/89-call-hunt-for-solicitor-as-protest-bites/5049942.fullarticle

Action day 15: bar backs direct action: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/practice/action-day-15-bar-backs-direct-action/5050007.fullarticle

Criminal bar announces date for legal aid action: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/criminal-bar-announces-date-for-legal-aid-action/5050062.fullarticle

Practitioner groups meet Gove as legal aid boycott continues: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/practitioner-groups-to-meet-gove-as-legal-aid-boycott-continues/5050149.fullarticle

Action day 22: legal aid practitioners rally in London: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/action-day-22-legal-aid-practitioners-rally-in-london/5050172.fullarticle

Gove meeting ‘potentially constructive’: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/gove-meeting-potentially-constructive/5050209.fullarticle

New protocol marks change of tactics in legal aid action: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/new-protocol-marks-change-of-tactics-in-legal-aid-action/5050238.article

Action was on brink of ‘collapse’, practitioner groups reveal: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/law/action-was-on-brink-of-collapse-practitioner-group-reveals/5050262.article

We continue to watch with interest, and are proud of the lengths our fellow legal professionals are going to in order to protect the most vulnerable in society, so that justice is not just for those who can afford it.

Criminal Law Solicitors’ Association: http://www.clsa.co.uk/

London Criminal Courts Solicitors’ Association: https://www.lccsa.org.uk/

The Criminal Bar Association: https://www.criminalbar.com/

Trade Union Bill

On the back of the latest London Underground tube strike, in which all at LNTV HQ showed utter determination in getting here, whether it be on foot, train, bike, boat, and even scooter, the government published the Trade Union Bill 2015-2016 (http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2015-16/tradeunion.html).

The Bill went through its first reading on 15th July, and a date for its second reading is currently still awaited.  The interesting aspect of the Bill is that, depending which side of the fence you fall on, it’s either an all-out attack on the hard working people of Great Britain who are simply looking to protect their rights, or it is a welcome piece of new legislation designed to stop the country being held to ransom by workers who refuse suggested changes to their employment and pay.

The Bill does not in any way stop the ability to strike, but it does change the administrative elements around a suggested strike action, meaning that a higher hurdle will need to be jumped to have the ability to strike in the first place.  For example, the Bill:

• Creates a 50% threshold for ballot turn-outs
• Requires an additional higher threshold of 40% of support to take industrial action from all members eligible to vote in the key areas of transport, health, education, border security, fire, and nuclear decommissioning
• Requires a clear description of the dispute and the planned industrial action on the ballot paper, so that all union members are clear what they are voting for
• Increases the 7 days notice of strike action to 14 days notice
• Sets a time limit of 4 months from the date of the ballot for the industrial action to take place, failing which a fresh ballot will be required (currently action can be taken indefinitely as long as the dispute remains live)
• Gives employers the right to hire agency staff to cover the duties of striking employees
• Puts in place new safeguards for non-striking members of staff
• Makes unlawful or intimidatory picketing a criminal, as opposed to a civil, offence
• Requires pickets to be supervised by a named official, possibly enforceable by injunction
• Requires opting in to the political fund (the current system requires opt out)

The Bill is accompanied by three consultations which ask for opinions on:

• The type of public services, and the grades of worker within them, which will be subject to the new 40% threshold (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/ballot-thresholds-in-important-public-services)
• The proposed repeal of the ban on the use of agency staff to cover for striking workers (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/hiring-agency-staff-during-strike-action-reforming-regulation)
• Additional proposals to tackle intimidation of non-striking workers (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/tackling-intimidation-of-non-striking-workers)

These consultations are open until 9th September 2015.

Until next time…