Recommendation 22

MoJ has been slow to initiate and complete its large-scale reviews of the sustainability of civil and criminal legal aid. Lord Bellamy’s review of the criminal legal aid system was published in 2021, eight years after the reforms were introduced. While MoJ has now increased most criminal fees by the minimum 15% recommended in report, it has yet to make some of the recommended changes. Fees paid to civil legal aid providers have not increased since 1996, which means they are approximately half what they were 28 years ago in real terms.60 This Committee previously highlighted that MoJ reduced the fees paid to civil legal aid providers by 10%, but it did not assess the costs or providing legal aid or model the impact of the changes.61 MoJ’s review of civil legal aid is now underway but will not be completed until July 2024.62