Independent Review of Criminal Legal Aid

The Independent Review of Criminal Legal Aid will look at ensuring the long-term sustainability of the criminal legal aid system. The review is chaired by Sir Christopher Bellamy QC, who will put forward his conclusions and proposals to the Lord Chancellor in 2021.

About the Review

The Independent Review was chaired by Sir Christopher Bellamy QC. Sir Christopher is a former judge with a wealth of legal experience. He recently stepped down as Chairman of Linklaters global competition practice and joined Monckton Chambers to focus on mediation and arbitration.

Sir Christopher was supported by an Expert and Advisory Panel who assisted the review by contributing expert advice, testing and challenging the review’s emerging findings and recommendations. The Panel was composed of experienced members with a range of backgrounds, skills and expertise that assisted the review in its analysis of the Criminal Legal Aid System.

This review looked at the criminal legal aid system in its entirety (link to Terms of Reference) and sought to ensure it:

  • provides high quality legal advice and representation
  • is provided through a diverse set of practitioners
  • is appropriately funded
  • is responsive to user needs both now and in the future
  • contributes to the efficiency and effectiveness of the Criminal Justice System
  • is transparent
  • is resilient
  • is delivered in a way that provides value for money to the taxpayer

The Independent Review is the final part of government’s Criminal Legal Aid Review, which has already led to up to £51 million per year in new payments for the sector.

Terms of Reference

Independent Review of Criminal Legal Aid - Terms of Reference (PDF, 220 KB, 9 pages)

Final Report

Sir Christopher’s report sets out his findings and recommendations to the government. The annexes to the report are added below along with a range of Call for Evidence submissions.

Independent Review of Criminal Legal Aid: Final Report (PDF, 1.09 MB, 165 pages)

Independent Review of Criminal Legal Aid: Final Report (Welsh) (PDF, 1.26 MB, 183 pages)

Evidence to the review

Report Annexes A-N

The annexes to the report include detailed information on the various evidence gathering exercises that the Review undertook, including summaries of their key findings.

The Annexes to the report are listed below:

  • Annex A: Terms of Reference and Expert Advisory Panel Members
  • Annex B: Evidence Gathering
  • Annex C: Criminal Legal Aid Trends
  • Annex D: 2021 Justice Select Committee Report ‘The Future of Legal Aid’
  • Annex E: Findings from Independent Review into Criminal Legal Aid Focus Groups for Legal Aid Practitioners
  • Annex F: Criminal Justice System User Interviews Analysis
  • Annex G: Student Survey Report
  • Annex H: Criminal Legal Aid firms Case Studies Report
  • Annex I: Public Sector Salary Comparative Study
  • Annex J: Financial Survey Summary
  • Annex K: Data Compendium - Criminal Legal Aid firms and Self-employed Criminal Barristers
  • Annex L: Self-employed Criminal Barristers
  • Annex M: The Fee Schemes and How They Work
  • Annex N: Glossary

Report Annexes A to N (PDF, 3.11 MB, 250 pages)

Call for Evidence submissions

Key responses to the review’s ‘Call for Evidence’ are uploaded to this webpage. These includes responses from representative bodies, independent bodies, charities, academics, barrister chambers and solicitors’ firms. All contributors of published evidence have given their consent to publication.

Publication of submissions on this website does not imply that the views contained therein are endorsed by the Independent Review of Criminal Legal Aid.

Call for evidence submissions (ZIP, 20.2 MB)

Membership

  • Sir Christopher Bellamy QC - Panel Chair
  • Professor Sue Arrowsmith QC
  • Richard Atkinson
  • Kate Aubrey Johnson
  • Professor Chris Bones
  • Dr Natalie Byrom
  • Jo Cecil
  • Anita Charlesworth CBE
  • The Right Honourable Baroness Hallett DBE
  • Neil Hawes QC
  • Dr Vicky Kemp
  • Professor Stephen Mayson
  • Margaret Obi
  • Crispin Passmore
  • Professor Neil Rickman
  • Bill Waddington
  • Dr Kevin Wong

Data compendium providing summary information on publicly funded criminal legal services (PDF, 2.08 MB, 119 pages) (This document can be translated into the Welsh language if requested)

Data compendium tables (ODS, 277 KB)

The aim of the data compendium is to summarise some of the key descriptive pieces of information, which are newly available on publicly funded criminal legal services, for the Independent Review of Criminal Legal Aid. This brings together data held by the Law Society (LS), the Bar Council (BC), the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The data compendium presents a broad overview of the main features of the provider base from the data shares.

The organisations participating agreed to share data for the first time which has allowed us to present information on publicly funded criminal legal aid payments alongside with information on the characteristics the criminal legal aid services provider base.

The data covers several years and therefore enables an exploration of change over time. The data compendium is the first publication of its kind summarising this data and includes chapters on the characteristics of solicitor firms in the criminal legal aid (CLA) market, solicitors and trainees identified as working for CLA firms; duty solicitors on the LAA duty solicitor rota and; publicly funded self-employed criminal barristers.

Next steps

The Deputy Prime Minister, Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor, Rt Hon Dominic Raab MP, has considered Sir Christopher’s recommendations. The MOJ published the government’s response to the Independent Review of Criminal Legal Aid on the 15 March 2022 and launched a consultation on the policy proposals.