The Treasury Solicitor has announced that the rates for the Attorney General’s civil panel counsel will be increased by 25% from 1 April 2025.
The increase follows representations made by the Bar Council and the Constitutional and Administrative Law Bar Association (ALBA) to the government, as some rates had not been increased since the panels were first introduced in 1997. In April 2024 ALBA published a detailed report noting that, if the rates had increased in line with inflation, they would be almost double in value. The rates will now be reviewed every two years.
The Bar Council also raised concerns with the Attorney General and Treasury Solicitor about the lack of diversity on the panels and pointed to the low rates as a factor in the difficulty recruiting to panels.
Commenting on the announcement, Barbara Mills KC, Chair of the Bar Council, said:
“We welcome this uplift in fees for counsel but, given that the rates have not been increased in more than 20 years, they have fallen very far behind inflation. We regard this as a necessary first step but further uplifts will be required if the government is to attract barristers to this important work.
“We’re grateful to ALBA for gathering the evidence that helped to make the compelling case for fees to be increased and we welcome the government’s commitment to more frequent reviews in future.
“The Attorney General and Treasury Solicitor have listened to, and share, our concerns about the lack of diversity on the panels We hope this uplift, and future increases, will encourage more barristers to apply for panel work.”
The new rates for the Attorney General’s civil panel counsel will apply to all work carried out from 1 April 2025.
Read the ALBA report on central government rates (30 April 2024).