Legal Aid Scheme

Ministry of Justice written question – answered at on 11 November 2022.

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Photo of Fleur Anderson Fleur Anderson Shadow Paymaster General

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government is taking to address the decrease in legal aid firms in the UK over the past 12 years.

Photo of Mike Freer Mike Freer Assistant Whip, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice

In 2021/22, the Department spent £1.6 billion on legal aid to ensure this vital support is accessible.

The volume of providers holding legal aid contracts at any given time is subject to change due to market forces, and other factors such as the internal management and updating of contract schedules. As such, a decline in contracts does not necessarily equate to a loss of provision in the area as this can occur due to mergers or other consolidation activity.

The Legal Aid Agency keeps market capacity under constant review, ensuring access across England and Wales and taking immediate action where required. We are also undertaking a review of the civil legal aid market to identify changes which could be pursued in the longer term to make the market more effective and efficient.

We have introduced a 15% uplift across most fee schemes in line with the recommendations made in the Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review. Uplifts for solicitors and barristers have already started being paid for new cases following the increased rates which came into force on 30 September 2022.

We have also applied the recent fee uplifts to the vast majority of existing Crown Court cases to address concerns that the uplifted fees did not apply to previous work. This came into force on 31 October 2022.

Alongside this, we have consulted on changes to the Legal Aid Means Test which will mean an additional 3.5 million people in England and Wales will have access to legal aid at the magistrates’ court, and 2 million more will have access to civil legal aid. Additionally, wherever you are in England and Wales, legal advice on a range of civil issues is available through the Civil Legal Aid telephone service.

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