High emotion and anger over the Criminal Bar Association’s (CBA) decision to strike a deal with the Government on legal aid cuts has seen barristers given until next Wednesday 9 April to vote to accept the deal or take further industrial action, as further legal challenges were also brought this week to the controversial Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA).
The ballot comes after the CBA on Friday 28 March announced that the Government had agreed to postpone the 6% cuts to the advocates graduated fee scheme until next summer, in exchange for the CBA’s suspension of the ‘no returns’ policy, under which barristers have been refusing to co-operate and stand in for one another, as they normally do to ensure the smooth running of the justice system.
