Criminal legal aid fees for advocates would rise by an average of 11%. The Ministry of Justice published the proposals on 15 July 2026. The money is £34 million a year, announced last December. The consultation on how to share it out closes on 26 August 2026.
What is the MoJ proposing?
A reshaped Advocates’ Graduated Fee Scheme rather than a flat uplift. The scheme sets what the Crown Court pays advocates who represent legally aided defendants.
The starting point is a general 6% rise across the board. Targeted increases sit on top of that, and they are where the design work has gone. The average lands at around 11%.
The proposals build on two earlier pieces of work. Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts published its first part on 9 July 2025 and its second on 4 February 2026. Before that, the Bellamy review led the MoJ to raise all AGFS fees by 15%.
Justice minister Sarah Sackman framed the package around delay. Ministers argue the funding keeps cases moving in a Crown Court backlog now above 80,000 cases.
How do the criminal legal aid fees break down?
Four targeted changes carry most of the money.
Fees for appeals from the magistrates’ courts and in the Court of Appeal rise by a further 10%.
Advocate fees for plea and trial preparation hearings rise by a further 25%. That is the largest single uplift in the package.
The basic fee for a guilty plea currently sits at 50% of the basic fee for a trial or cracked trial. It rises to 65%. The MoJ argues this supports earlier and fuller consideration of cases, and may resolve more of them sooner.
Basic fees rise further for rape and serious sexual offences, serious violence, and burglary and robbery. Rape and serious sexual offence work sees more than 13% on average.
What has already happened?
Part of the package is live. A statutory instrument took effect for cases with a representation order dated on or after 28 July 2026.
That instrument also cut the number of trial days needed to qualify for a wasted preparation claim from five to two. The MoJ announced investment in wasted and special preparation fees separately on 3 July 2026. That sits outside this consultation.
The cut-off is the date on the representation order, not the date of the work. Orders made either side of 28 July attract different rates.
The uplift targets advocates rather than litigators. Solicitor firms doing Crown Court work should read the proposals for what they do not cover. Responses close on 26 August. The structure of the scheme, meaning basic fee, offence band and advocate type, is what decides who gains and by how much.
What about solicitors?
Solicitors got their own pot. The December announcement put £92 million towards solicitors’ fees alongside the £34 million for advocates. The MoJ has run a distinct consultation on the solicitor schemes.
That distinction matters when reading this document. Solicitor advocates fall inside the AGFS when they conduct Crown Court advocacy, so a firm with higher rights holders gains. A firm doing litigator work only does not.
Anyone modelling the effect on a mixed practice needs to split the work by scheme before applying any percentage.
When does the consultation close?
26 August 2026, six weeks after opening. That is inside the summer, which is a real problem for chambers and firms trying to respond.
Responses are worth making. The consultation is about scheme structure, not about whether the money exists, so the argument is over distribution. Fee bands and ratios tend to stay put for years once fixed.
The Legal Brief has covered the wider pressure on the criminal courts in its reports on the paused Sentencing Act release changes and on the rethink on jury trial restrictions. Both bear on the same backlog this funding is meant to address.
The consultation document is on GOV.UK as Criminal legal aid: proposals for Advocates’ Graduated Fee Scheme reform. GOV.UK sets out the instrument already in force in Crime news: certain AGFS fees to increase.