The representative body for barristers, the Bar Council, has proposed a 12% fee hike for practising certificates at the Bar in order to plug a hole in pension funds. It wants to raise fees until 2021 when it projects it can eliminate its existing deficit.
According to the body’s consultation documents, the pension deficit is now between £3.7m-£5.4m due to significant increases in pension liabilities driven by low bond yields indirectly arising from low interest rates. The range of possible deficit values is due to uncertainties in the level and timing of future bond yields.
