By Lucy Caulkett -
The Crown Prosecution Service’s has announced a grandiose recruitment annual wage for deputy chief crown prosecutors, who will be paid up to £93,247. The huge pay is far greater than that paid to police officers and most lawyers. The announcement is said to have ‘really incensed’ practitioners, according to the criminal bar chief, who is plans to meet the director of public prosecutions this month.
Whilst applicants for high CPS posts are in high spirits about the prospect of a top end wage, legal practitioners are furious at the high wage which they feel is not deserved. The anger has sparked discussions in legal social settings and could lead to many solicitors and Barristers asking for increases in their own wages, The Eye Of Media.Com has heard. Solicitors and barristers have a far more demanding job than the CPS, and are required to go through more copious material involving high legal skill than the CPS,
Criminal Bar Association Chris Henley QC has told prosecution chief Max Hill QC in a letter that anger about the treatment and remuneration of prosecution advocates ‘is reaching boiling point’.
Henley has cited an email suggesting incompetence from the CPS that questions the high figures in wages they are being offered. The CPS have the final say in criminal cases as to whether a defendant should face charges and would usually base their decision on the chances of a conviction in a court of law if charges were pressed.Each time a defendant is acquitted in court, it reflects badly on the judgement of the CPS, more so where the outcome was predictable by the CPS. Cases can take different turns in court, depending on the performance of barristers, defendants, and witnesses, and the CPS are expected to consider all that in advance.
More often than not, the CPS get it right, but legal practitioners are fuming at the high wage packages being offered to them. Under the latest offers for vacancies is deputy chief prosecutor is being offered up to £93,247 in London, and a slightly lower wage of up to £90,718 at national level for those based in other parts of the Uk. Applicants have had between the 22 January 2019 to 25 February 2019 to rush for it. A Senior Strategic Communications Advisor – HQ Communications is being offered £35,338- £43,112. Some Barristers have complained bitterly at the huge wages which they do not believe i9s reflected in the standard of professionalism demonstrated by the CPS.
VALID
Their complaint is probably valid, but also depends what percentage of CPS personnel they have any first hand or reliable second hand experience with. An email received from a senior counsel has been used to stress the point of discontent with the news of high pay offered to CPS new staff. A senior counsel has expressed his disgust to treatment he claims to have received by a CPS staff during a very important appeal he was handling. The barrister said that after concluding a case for the local complex casework unit, after the jury retired the CPS caseworker was instructed to revisit the page count and provide a final count just below the 2,500 threshold by excluding ‘what were now described as “duplicate” pages’.
The barrister said: ‘The reality is that despite many requests for so called police analysts/officers to get the detail correct my junior and I had to keep checking and correcting errors. In addition, a number of pages, including the 308-page SOE, were printed for the jury in the correct size of A3 but were nonetheless counted as one page!’
Henley said: ‘The latest advert for Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutors has really incensed practitioners. They compare the very generous package on offer – long paid holidays, pension, assistance with childcare costs, flexible but limited working hours – to the hard slog with none of the benefits, responsibility and rubbish remuneration (static for years then cut in 2012) they have to put up with.’
A CPS spokesperson said: ‘The DPP has confirmed that the CPS is carrying out a review of the graduated fees scheme for external advocates this year. CPS officials held a constructive meeting with representatives from the Bar Council, Criminal Bar Association, circuit leaders and the Young Bar before Christmas to open discussions. This review will be a thorough, considered process and we will be consulting with the profession over the coming months.’
The spokesperson pointed out that any fee changes ‘will need to be agreed in the context of the CPS budget position. It must be affordable now and in the longer term and take into account anticipated changes in future caseloads and mix’.