I appreciate that over the years you have been asked many times to respond to consultations, requests for information, all sorts of things. You are all aware that at the moment CLAR is ongoing and many people are working extremely hard on your behalf to provide the strongest possible arguments for an improvement in remuneration for this downtrodden wing of the profession. You are all encouraged to respond to the request for information issued by Sir Christopher Bellamy, the Chair of the Independent CLAR panel
https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/independent-review-of-criminal-legal-aid-cfe/
The APPG has almost simultaneously issued a census
https://appg.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/legalaidcensus2021
to which you are similarly asked to respond This census covers both civil and criminal legal aid work.
Please distribute both links as widely as possible and encourage as many people as possible to respond.
The more the better. The greater the detail provided, the stronger is the argument for improvement
This is a real opportunity for us all .
Daniel Bonich,
CLSA Chair
