Joanne Cecil KC and Kate Aubrey-Johnson were independent expert advisers to the Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review (CLAIR). Kate Aubrey-Johnson authored Good Practice Guidance on Certificates for Assigned Advocate.
This month, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has confirmed additional investment in Youth Court fees. In response to the Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review (CLAIR), the government has allocated £24m additional investment in its 2024/25 budget to solicitors undertaking criminal legal aid work in police stations and the Youth Court. This is on top of the funding that had already been provided as part of the response to CLAIR, and is in response to the Crime Lower consultation, which closed in March 2024.
The Government is investing an extra £5.1m per year through the introduction of a separate Youth Court fee scheme, focusing enhanced fees on the most serious offences (all except summary offences). Targeting funding in this way helps to reduce the disparity between the Youth Court and Crown Courts, recognising that many Youth Court cases would be paid at Crown Court rates if the defendant were an adult. The new enhanced fees in the Youth Court also recognise the gravity of these cases in the Youth Court, and the impact on a child’s life if convicted, as well as the complexity of the cases and the vulnerability of child defendants.
This addresses the CLAIR report recommendation that the importance of youth work should be reflected through increased fees above the current adult magistrates’ court fee level. The allocated £5.1m will increase Youth Court spend by around 80%, which is a substantial increase. It represents an uplift of £598.59 per case for either way and indictable only cases, nearly doubling the standard fee.
The changes will come into force on 6 December 2024.
Youth Court fee increases are being introduced alongside a harmonisation of police station fees, which will increase the lowest London and non-London fees, at a cost of £18.5 million. More detail is provided in the press release and the consultation response.
The Criminal Legal Aid Advisory Board (CLAAB) has also published its first annual report 2024, which recommends separate payment for Youth Court work (whether by increased use of Certificates for Counsel or otherwise) for the work done by solicitors and the Bar undertaking this important and often complex work. This would support the availability to many young and vulnerable defendants of access to the highest quality advocacy in the Youth Court. Read more here.
