Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 21
21
Accepted
HMCTS maintains very limited understanding and data on litigants in person's court impact.
Recommendation
We asked MoJ and HMCTS what they were doing to improve their understanding of the impact of litigants in person (LIPs) on courts.56 Following reforms, the number of LIPs in family courts increased significantly. Between January and March 2023, in 40% of family disputes around children both parties were LIPs, an increase from 14% on the same period in 2013.57 HMCTS told us that cases where both parties do not have a representative take slightly less time than when both parties are represented. However, it acknowledged that its data on LIPs remained very limited. HMCTS has not analysed this since 2018, and the data could not distinguish between a LIP who is very actively involved in their case and one that does not participate.58 HMCTS explained that cases where only one respondent is legally represented take much longer, which is generally where LIPs are more likely to be active.59 Ensuring a sustainable legal aid market
Government Response Summary
The MoJ has engaged with other government departments and has begun discussions with the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government as to where changes in legal aid policy may impact on them.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
5. PAC conclusion: The Ministry of Justice has still not made sufficient progress in identifying or addressing wider system costs of its legal aid reforms. 5. PAC recommendation: The Committee recognises that it will not be possible to calculate a precise figure of the costs of the reforms to other areas of government and the justice system. However, the Ministry of Justice should set out in its Treasury Minute response: • how it plans to work with other government departments such as Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Department of Health and Social Care to better understand where reforms may have led to cost-shunting and the potential scale of these costs. This should include looking at the extent to which local authorities are funding immigration legal advice; and • how it intends to work with HM Courts and Tribunals Service to improve available quantitative analysis on the impacts of litigants-in-person on the administration of justice, as recommended in the PAC’s 2015 report. 5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 5.2 The MoJ engages with other government departments as to where changes in legal aid policy may impact on them, including where they may have led to ‘cost-shunting’. MoJ has begun discussions with the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government