Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 3
3
Accepted
Monitor Illegal Migration Act's impact and assess Exceptional Case Funding efficiency for immigration.
Recommendation
We are concerned about access to legal aid for immigration matters which often involve extremely vulnerable people, and the effectiveness of the Exceptional Case Funding (ECF) scheme for some of these cases. Organisations including the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association provided evidence to the Committee of a ‘supply crisis’ in the immigration and asylum legal aid market. People eligible for support are often unable to find a provider with capacity to take their case. Additionally, those applying for help via the ECF scheme, intended as a safety net to ensure an individuals’ human rights are protected, face several hurdles accessing support. MoJ acknowledges that a shortage of immigration and asylum legal aid providers in some areas is concerning. It is trying to address expected increases in demand due to the new Illegal Migration Act 2023 (IMA) by increasing fees for work related to the policy. However, this risks exacerbating access issues for other immigration cases where MoJ has not increased fees, as providers may prioritise higher paying work. MoJ is looking at whether the ECF scheme is the most efficient route for immigration cases given the high rate of approval of applications (87%) and the additional administrative burden for LAA. Recommendation 3: The Ministry of Justice should set out in its Treasury Minute response: • how it plans to monitor the impact of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 on the capacity of other areas of immigration advice and how it plans to respond where evidence suggests people are unable to access advice; and • details of its plans to assess whether the Exceptional Case Funding scheme is the most efficient route for immigration cases.
Government Response Summary
The government agreed, outlining steps to monitor immigration advice capacity by commissioning research into demand monitoring methodology and providing £1.4 million for caseworker accreditation. It also detailed its assessment of the ECF scheme's efficiency, including recent stakeholder engagement and LAA data review, with outcomes currently under consideration.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. offices. It takes actions available to them when potential issues appear. For example, the LAA customer service team is working to support those direct applicants that may not yet have a legal aid provider to find one following a grant of Exceptional Case Funding (ECF). The government is also providing up to £1.4 million of funding for accreditation and reaccreditation of senior caseworkers to conduct immigration and asylum legal aid work. The new government has decided not to proceed with the Rwanda migration partnership, but to bring forward a new border security, asylum, and immigration Bill. Notwithstanding, as per the response to recommendation one, MoJ will seek to commission research into what might be a viable methodology for monitoring demand, as well considering how we collect data on any challenges in finding a legal aid provider. This will include immigration and asylum issues. MoJ has taken steps to assess whether the ECF scheme is the most efficient route for immigration cases. For example, the MoJ has recently undertaken targeted, further engagement with stakeholders in the sector to better understand the experience of providers and applicants to ECF and reviewing LAA data to better understand the types of immigration cases within the cohort of ECF grants. MoJ is now carefully considering the outcome of this stakeholder engagement and data review.