Family legal aid fees: is patience really a virtue?

Leslie Samuels KC Barrister Pump Court Chambers Chair of the Family Law Bar Association

In this article Leslie Samuels KC Chair of the Family Law Bar Association highlights that there has been no fee increase for family legal aid barristers for 30 years. In real terms fees are worth only half of what they were and the nature of the work has changed fundamentally in that time. He charts the progress of RoCLA and the submissions made on behalf of the FLBA that without reform there will be a reduced less diverse pool of specialist family barristers willing to undertake this work impacting on access to justice for the most vulnerable. He then considers the recent December 2025 Bar Council report System overload: a report on family legal aid which presents a powerful depressing realistic portrayal of life at the publicly funded family bar. The report highlights the impact of static fees including its impact on health and wellbeing and the exodus away from publicly funded work. Leslie echoes the call...