The MOJ's decision to drop legal aid had solicitors
see their fees fall by 17.5% in the previous year. Meanwhile, the head of Legal
Aid, Matthew Coats, had increased. Legal aid lawyers have become infuriated at
his salary, bonus and pension package of up to £225,000 this year.
Matthew Coats is the chief executive of the Legal Aid
Agency. His combined salary, bonuses and pension benefits have increased from
£195,000 to £200,000 in 2014. This year, his salary had increased from £220,000
to £225,000. His salary appears in the LAA's annual report where his basic
salary is just £140,000 and he had received up to £15,000 in bonuses and
£65,000 in pension-related benefits.
Coats is also responsible as the Director General of
Corporate Services at the Ministry of Justice.
Despite the protests against the large reductions to
criminal legal aid fees, the Ministry of Justice pushed through with its latest
round of cuts to legal aid.
London Criminal Courts Solicitors' Association
Jonathan Black said:
“This is an insult to those members of the profession
who work late nights in police stations at reduced rates and who are facing job
insecurity.
“As solicitors consider ... taking the most drastic of
all steps to ensure that access to justice is not completely destroyed, the MoJ
once again excel themselves by insensitively announcing the pay increase of
£20k to the chief executive of the LAA, Matthew Coats, whose [income] will now
reach an eye-watering £225,000 per annum.
“We are told that the austerity measures mean that
everyone must experience cuts ... No legal aid lawyer should earn more than the
prime minister [but] Mr Coats’ salary equates to the salary of 10 solicitors
made redundant as a result of the recent cuts.
“He has marshalled through a policy that means many
ordinary middle earners would have to struggle to pay for their own
representation, even if exonerated, and advice centres close down. Perhaps if
he and his colleagues had listened to the legal professions and implemented
other ways of making savings there might not be so much anger, but at £225,000,
we clearly have the most expensive civil servants in Europe.”
