Recommendation 4

The Ministry of Justice has been slow to review financial eligibility thresholds, leaving fewer people eligible for legal aid, and it has not set out how it plans to review thresholds in future. One of the aims of MoJ’s 2013 reforms was to target legal aid at those who need it most. However, it did not create a mechanism for reviewing financial eligibility thresholds for legal aid and has not altered them since. Consequently, each year a reducing proportion of people have been eligible for legal aid due to wage inflation. For example, over the period from 2012–13 to 2020–21 the proportion of UK income taxpayers eligible for civil legal aid decreased by 11 percentage points (73% to 62%). In February 2019, MoJ announced its plans to review means testing for legal aid, but it took until 2023 for it to propose changes, and changes will not be fully implemented until 2026 due to “wider competing Government priorities”. It has assured the Committee that thresholds will be adjusted for inflation before they are implemented as they are currently based on Value for Money from Legal Aid 7 2019–20 data. However, MoJ could not provide us with clear plans for how it will routinely review and uprate thresholds in the future, as it considers this to be a political matter. Recommendation 4: In its Treasury Minute response, the Ministry of Justice should set out what it will do to: • ensure that financial eligibility thresholds for legal aid are kept under review in light of changes in the economy; and • ensure that any proposed changes can be implemented quickly and efficiently.