Edinburgh Criminal lawyers will withdraw their Labour on St.Andrew’s day 30th November due to the abject failure of @scotgov to deal with the decimation of #LegalAid & impact of #Covid19- Its time the rest of 🏴criminal bar united & did the same as edinbarassoc.com 1/9👇🏽
Despite the 3% increase in fees across the board announced in November 2018, previous cuts mean the fixed fee for a summary trial is lower than it was in 1999. It is 21 years since that rate was fixed. 2/9 
The problems faced by the profession have been growing for decades and have been exacerbated by the Covid 19 pandemic. When lockdown was this year, most of the business in the Sheriff Courts ground to a halt. Legal aid practitioners were required to cover urgent business 3/9
predominantly custody cases. Like many key workers, we put our health and safety at risk. Our members did so willingly in recognition of the essential role they play in the administration of justice. 4/9
Our members had to adapt quickly to new ways of working such as increased use of video link hearings. Unlike other ‘Justice Partners’, we were not given any support to fund increased use of technology. (Contrast that with the £2.9 million awarded @COPFS
5/9
5/9
There is a mounting backlog of cases and it will be essential to have a strong and viable bar to process those cases. The Scottish Government have done little to support and maintain the profession throughout lockdown. 6/9
We have been told our members must now work on public holidays. Monday the 30th November 2020 is the St Andrew’s Day public holiday created by the Scottish Government. The court would normally be closed on this holiday. The court will now be open for custody business. 7/9
Most of the staff at court on Mon will be paid an enhanced rate for working on public holiday. Defence agents don’t receive any additional remuneration or indeed any recognition for this work. It is frankly insulting that @scotgov ignore our pleas for assistance 8/9
over last 2 decades & now expect us (without consultation) 2work additional days. It is a measure of the level of contempt with which we are treated that they do not even see fit to redistribute the saving in existing legal aid budget to help us at a time of global pandemic. 9/9
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
