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Is it too much to ask to be paid for work done? An anonymous legal aid barrister discusses the impact of waiting for money that is owed
I am an immigration barrister at a top-ranked set, practising predominately in legal aid work.
In a recent Counsel article, Joanna Hardy-Susskind interviewed colleagues who had left the criminal Bar. I was struck by how transparent they were in sharing the realities of their working lives and what had led them to make the decision to leave the profession. Feeling inspired, I decided it was time the issue of aged debt and its impact ought to be aired beyond my supportive colleagues. To be clear, when I chose to work in this field, I knew I would not earn a huge amount – this article is not about my salary.
As a legal aid barrister working in immigration, when you start work on a new case you do not know when you’ll be paid. Today, after noticing that my business bank account balance is at a record low, I download my aged debt report which tells me I have outstanding fees in over 60 cases. Debt is categorised by age into brackets. In my case the 13 to 24 months bracket is the one with the highest amount of debt. The oldest unpaid case was completed five and a half years ago. This issue often lingers in the background as you remain otherwise preoccupied by the demands of an overwhelming and often urgent workload. However, there are moments throughout the year when it becomes impossible to ignore – during meetings with your accountant, when tax deadlines loom, or when your business account lacks the funds to pay yourself a salary.
Although aged debt also affects legal aid barristers across other practice areas it is surprisingly not discussed with aspiring pupils. Before I was a pupil, I recall overhearing barristers mention ‘debt’ in conversation among themselves and had assumed they were referring to personal debts they owed. How wrong I was. Over the past few years, when mentoring pupils or having them shadow me, I’ve told them about the issue of aged debt, so they are aware of what lies ahead. These conversations are difficult. I often feel a sense of guilt knowing how hard they’ve worked to reach this stage, competing against hundreds of other applicants only to be confronted with an unsettling reality about publicly funded work.
Among my colleagues aged debt is a frequent topic of conversation, something we regularly console each other about. Much like the ‘badge of honour’ mentality associated with working long hours on little sleep, accumulating six figures in aged debt is often shrugged off but simultaneously worn as a mark of pride in this side of the profession. We joke about the absurdity of the situation – no other profession or trade would accept debt accumulating to these levels. There is, of course, a shared understanding that legal aid work must be supplemented with privately paid cases to improve cash flow. While this can provide short-term relief, it fails to address the fundamental issue of not being paid promptly for work that has been completed.
It is important to acknowledge that an increase in legal aid rates was recently announced in November 2024 for both the housing and immigration sectors – remarkably the first increase since 1996. The Lord Chancellor, Shabana Mahood, announced a minimum 10% increase on legal aid rates in these areas, describing it as an ‘important step’ toward rebuilding the justice system to ensure it is ‘fit for purpose for the society it serves and those who serve within it’.
On the day of the announcement, the government released a report commissioned by the Ministry of Justice, Market Research Report: Civil Legal Aid completed by PA Consulting. The report includes only one short paragraph on aged debt, noting that ‘in some circumstances’ barristers can be waiting for payment for long periods. The report explains that: ‘[B]arristers typically depend on solicitors at the provider organisations to file claims. The level of administrative requirements could mean that solicitors delay submitting these claims, causing this aged debt.’ While this may be true in some cases, the reasons for aged debt accruing are complicated and multifaceted and extend beyond administrative requirements.
This issue is not new. The PA Consulting report references a Bar Council report from January 2021, Running on Empty which found that ‘many of our interviewees brought up the issue of how absolutely exhausting it was to have to fight to be paid at all for work that was done, on top of the demands of a job that is adversarial in nature’. The Bar Council report concluded that barristers in this sector make a ‘deliberate vocational choice from a sense of social duty and moral conviction’ to work in publicly funded areas. The PA Consulting report surmises that this acts as a ‘barrier to exit’ from the profession, where barristers continue to work despite unfavourable conditions.
Between 24 January and 21 March 2025, the government held a public consultation inviting feedback on the proposed increase to legal aid fees. Within the consultation, the government recognised the need to assess whether broader reforms are required. In my view, while the recent announcement is a step in the right direction, the framework for making payments to counsel demands radical reform and ought to be considered a key focus for systemic change.
Some years ago, I was thrilled to join my set as a tenant, having dreamed of working as a human rights barrister and admiring the vital work of my chambers. Given the dedication it takes to get here, it is a difficult reality to come to terms with, but working without getting paid for months or years in some cases has begun to erode the ‘barrier to exit’ and I’m left questioning for how much longer I can keep going.
‘Where have all the criminal barristers gone?’, Joanna Hardy-Susskind, Counsel November 2024
Review of Civil Legal Aid: Market Research Report, PA Consulting for Ministry of Justice, November 2024
Running on Empty - Civil Legal Aid Research Report, Bar Council, January 2021
Civil legal aid: Towards a sustainable future, Ministry of Justice consultation, 24 January 2025 to 21 March 2025
The author is an immigration barrister practising predominantly in legal aid at a top-ranked chambers.
I am an immigration barrister at a top-ranked set, practising predominately in legal aid work.
In a recent Counsel article, Joanna Hardy-Susskind interviewed colleagues who had left the criminal Bar. I was struck by how transparent they were in sharing the realities of their working lives and what had led them to make the decision to leave the profession. Feeling inspired, I decided it was time the issue of aged debt and its impact ought to be aired beyond my supportive colleagues. To be clear, when I chose to work in this field, I knew I would not earn a huge amount – this article is not about my salary.
As a legal aid barrister working in immigration, when you start work on a new case you do not know when you’ll be paid. Today, after noticing that my business bank account balance is at a record low, I download my aged debt report which tells me I have outstanding fees in over 60 cases. Debt is categorised by age into brackets. In my case the 13 to 24 months bracket is the one with the highest amount of debt. The oldest unpaid case was completed five and a half years ago. This issue often lingers in the background as you remain otherwise preoccupied by the demands of an overwhelming and often urgent workload. However, there are moments throughout the year when it becomes impossible to ignore – during meetings with your accountant, when tax deadlines loom, or when your business account lacks the funds to pay yourself a salary.
Although aged debt also affects legal aid barristers across other practice areas it is surprisingly not discussed with aspiring pupils. Before I was a pupil, I recall overhearing barristers mention ‘debt’ in conversation among themselves and had assumed they were referring to personal debts they owed. How wrong I was. Over the past few years, when mentoring pupils or having them shadow me, I’ve told them about the issue of aged debt, so they are aware of what lies ahead. These conversations are difficult. I often feel a sense of guilt knowing how hard they’ve worked to reach this stage, competing against hundreds of other applicants only to be confronted with an unsettling reality about publicly funded work.
Among my colleagues aged debt is a frequent topic of conversation, something we regularly console each other about. Much like the ‘badge of honour’ mentality associated with working long hours on little sleep, accumulating six figures in aged debt is often shrugged off but simultaneously worn as a mark of pride in this side of the profession. We joke about the absurdity of the situation – no other profession or trade would accept debt accumulating to these levels. There is, of course, a shared understanding that legal aid work must be supplemented with privately paid cases to improve cash flow. While this can provide short-term relief, it fails to address the fundamental issue of not being paid promptly for work that has been completed.
It is important to acknowledge that an increase in legal aid rates was recently announced in November 2024 for both the housing and immigration sectors – remarkably the first increase since 1996. The Lord Chancellor, Shabana Mahood, announced a minimum 10% increase on legal aid rates in these areas, describing it as an ‘important step’ toward rebuilding the justice system to ensure it is ‘fit for purpose for the society it serves and those who serve within it’.
On the day of the announcement, the government released a report commissioned by the Ministry of Justice, Market Research Report: Civil Legal Aid completed by PA Consulting. The report includes only one short paragraph on aged debt, noting that ‘in some circumstances’ barristers can be waiting for payment for long periods. The report explains that: ‘[B]arristers typically depend on solicitors at the provider organisations to file claims. The level of administrative requirements could mean that solicitors delay submitting these claims, causing this aged debt.’ While this may be true in some cases, the reasons for aged debt accruing are complicated and multifaceted and extend beyond administrative requirements.
This issue is not new. The PA Consulting report references a Bar Council report from January 2021, Running on Empty which found that ‘many of our interviewees brought up the issue of how absolutely exhausting it was to have to fight to be paid at all for work that was done, on top of the demands of a job that is adversarial in nature’. The Bar Council report concluded that barristers in this sector make a ‘deliberate vocational choice from a sense of social duty and moral conviction’ to work in publicly funded areas. The PA Consulting report surmises that this acts as a ‘barrier to exit’ from the profession, where barristers continue to work despite unfavourable conditions.
Between 24 January and 21 March 2025, the government held a public consultation inviting feedback on the proposed increase to legal aid fees. Within the consultation, the government recognised the need to assess whether broader reforms are required. In my view, while the recent announcement is a step in the right direction, the framework for making payments to counsel demands radical reform and ought to be considered a key focus for systemic change.
Some years ago, I was thrilled to join my set as a tenant, having dreamed of working as a human rights barrister and admiring the vital work of my chambers. Given the dedication it takes to get here, it is a difficult reality to come to terms with, but working without getting paid for months or years in some cases has begun to erode the ‘barrier to exit’ and I’m left questioning for how much longer I can keep going.
‘Where have all the criminal barristers gone?’, Joanna Hardy-Susskind, Counsel November 2024
Review of Civil Legal Aid: Market Research Report, PA Consulting for Ministry of Justice, November 2024
Running on Empty - Civil Legal Aid Research Report, Bar Council, January 2021
Civil legal aid: Towards a sustainable future, Ministry of Justice consultation, 24 January 2025 to 21 March 2025
Is it too much to ask to be paid for work done? An anonymous legal aid barrister discusses the impact of waiting for money that is owed
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