UK: Criminal barristers vote to end strike after accepting government pay offer

The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) confirmed the end of the industrial action, which had caused many cases to grind to a halt.

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Criminal barristers in England and Wales have voted to end their strike after accepting a government pay offer.

The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) confirmed the end of the industrial action, which had caused many cases to grind to a halt.

In a statement on Twitter, it said: "The Criminal Bar has voted to accept the proposal made by the government.

"With 57% voting to accept the offer made by government, action is suspended from 18.00hrs this evening."

It comes after the justice secretary proposed more reforms to fees for legal aid work, which the government said amounted to another £54m.

The CBA said the criminal justice system remained "chronically underfunded" but that it would respect the decision of its members and end the strike.

Barristers will be able to accept new cases from Monday evening and will return to court on Tuesday.

They had originally been offered a 15% fee rise from the end of September - an extra £7,000 per year - but were told it would only apply to new cases.

An improved offer from the Ministry of Justice applied the increase to the "vast majority of cases currently in the crown court".

Justice Secretary Brandon Lewis said he was "glad that barristers have now agreed to return to work".

He added: "This breakthrough is a result of coming together and restarting what I hope to be a constructive relationship as we work to drive down the backlog and ensure victims see justice done sooner."

The High Court had warned recently that strike delays to trials might not be a good enough reason to keep defendants on remand if the dispute dragged on past November.

Barristers started their action in the summer - initially on alternate weeks and refusing certain work - before escalating it to a continuous walkout last month.

The CBA argued that real-terms pay had decreased on average by 28% since 2006.

Some barristers said they sometimes earned less than the minimum wage for government work when accounting for the number of hours they put in.