Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Thirty-Third Report - Value for Money from Legal Aid
Public Accounts Committee
HC 481
Published 24 May 2024
Recommendations
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 …
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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.
HM Treasury
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4
Accepted
Ensure financial eligibility thresholds for legal aid are routinely reviewed and swiftly implemented.
Recommendation
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 …
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Government Response Summary
The government agreed, committing to review legal aid income and capital thresholds within three to five years of the new means test's full implementation (expected by summer 2026), and prior to implementation using ONS data. It will also seek to design policy for efficient delivery and acknowledges the need for significant digital transformation for quicker implementation, subject to future spending reviews.
HM Treasury
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5
Accepted
Collaborate with departments to understand legal aid reforms' wider public sector cost-shunting.
Recommendation
The Ministry of Justice has still not made sufficient progress in identifying or addressing wider system costs of its legal aid reforms. Almost a decade ago, this Committee urged MoJ to get a better understanding of the wider costs of …
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Government Response Summary
The government agreed, stating it has already implemented the recommendation by engaging with other departments like MHCLG on cost-shunting and local authority funding of immigration advice, and will continue these discussions. It is also assessing cost shifts through early legal advice pilots (ELAP and HLPAS) and working with HMCTS to improve data use and analysis related to litigants in person.
HM Treasury
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6
Acknowledged
Improve timely response to legal aid market sustainability issues and implement fee reviews.
Recommendation
We are not convinced that the Ministry of Justice has put in place sufficient measures to ensure the future sustainability of the legal aid market. MoJ has been slow to initiate and complete its large-scale sustainability reviews of both criminal …
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Government Response Summary
The government agreed, but provided vague commitments on several points. It is 'considering how best' to work with providers on profitability. It noted CLAAB's advice on criminal legal aid is 'not binding' but assessed. For civil legal aid, it described current evidence gathering for the RoCLA, with findings under consideration and future decisions on routine review mechanisms pending for ministers.
HM Treasury
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7
Accepted
Legal aid agencies lack demand and capacity data, hindering understanding of access issues.
Recommendation
Neither MoJ nor LAA estimate demand for legally aided services, nor do they capture routine data on whether providers are turning potential clients away.12 MoJ and LAA told us that this was partly because they do not want to place …
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Government Response Summary
MoJ and LAA will review data on demand for and access to legal aid, improve data collection, and consider alternative methods for monitoring access, aiming for implementation by Spring 2026.
HM Treasury
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8
Accepted
Persistent "legal aid deserts" reduce face-to-face access to legal aid services nationwide.
Recommendation
Stakeholders, including the Law Society, have often raised concerns about “legal aid deserts”, where large geographical areas do not have a legal aid provider for a particular category of law.19 For example, 183 local authorities had no legal aid provider …
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Government Response Summary
MoJ and LAA will review the current data collected on demand for and access to legal aid, identify opportunities to make improvements, and consider commissioning independent research, aiming for implementation by Spring 2026.
HM Treasury
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10
Accepted
Vulnerable individuals face significant barriers accessing remote legal aid advice
Recommendation
We asked LAA and MoJ how they can be sure that people in areas without face-to face provision can access advice, and what they are doing to assist vulnerable people. This might include people with limited transportation means, those for …
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Government Response Summary
The MoJ acknowledges the need for face-to-face advice and will continue to monitor its usage. Where remote advice is not appropriate, the LAA may intervene directly or via an external organisation.
HM Treasury
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11
Accepted
LASPO reforms significantly reduced immigration legal aid, creating a supply crisis
Recommendation
The LASPO reforms significantly reduced the types of immigration cases that are eligible for legal aid. The reforms removed funding for all immigration cases except for asylum cases and a limited number of non-asylum cases, such as immigration detention and …
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Government Response Summary
The LAA will monitor the number of immigration and asylum advice providers, and the MoJ will commission research into a viable methodology for monitoring demand and data collection on legal aid provider challenges; the MoJ has also taken steps to assess whether the ECF scheme is the most efficient route for immigration cases.
HM Treasury
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12
Accepted
Targeted fee increases for IMA cases risk worsening broader immigration legal aid access
Recommendation
MoJ said that a shortage of immigration and asylum legal aid providers in some areas is concerning. It told us that it has taken steps to address capacity issues by increasing fees for cases related to the Illegal Migration Act …
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Government Response Summary
The LAA will monitor the number of immigration and asylum advice providers, and the MoJ will commission research into a viable methodology for monitoring demand and data collection on legal aid provider challenges; the MoJ has also taken steps to assess whether the ECF scheme is the most efficient route for immigration cases.
HM Treasury
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14
Accepted
Suitability of Exceptional Case Funding for immigration cases questioned due to high costs
Recommendation
We asked MoJ whether it thought that the ECF scheme was the appropriate route for immigration cases given that LAA approves around 87% of immigration applications and that this funding is more difficult to access for claimants.35 Evidence also suggests …
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Government Response Summary
The LAA will monitor the number of immigration and asylum advice providers, and the MoJ will commission research into a viable methodology for monitoring demand and data collection on legal aid provider challenges; the MoJ has also taken steps to assess whether the ECF scheme is the most efficient route for immigration cases.
HM Treasury
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15
Accepted
Legal aid financial eligibility thresholds lack routine review and remain stagnant since 2009
Recommendation
Through LASPO MoJ aimed to target legal aid at those who need it most. Aside from scope changes, MoJ can use its financial eligibility criteria to achieve this goal. LAA assesses people’s financial eligibility for legal aid using a means …
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Government Response Summary
The MoJ has committed to reviewing income and capital thresholds for legal aid within three to five years of the new means test coming into operation, with full implementation not expected before Summer 2026.
HM Treasury
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17
Accepted
MoJ's legal aid means test review implementation faces significant and repeated delays
Recommendation
MoJ first announced its means test review in 2019 but the review process has taken several years. MoJ wrote to us in March 2024 explaining that while it had implemented some minor changes identified in the review, such as removing …
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Government Response Summary
The MoJ has committed to reviewing income and capital thresholds for legal aid within three to five years of the new means test coming into operation, with full implementation expected by Summer 2026 and will consider ONS data when reviewing thresholds.
HM Treasury
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18
Accepted
MoJ failed to adequately assess wider cross-government impacts of legal aid reforms
Recommendation
When this Committee looked at legal aid in 2015, it noted the lack of analysis MoJ had undertaken of the wider impacts of the reforms on itself and other government departments and stressed that MoJ needed to do more. At …
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Government Response Summary
The MoJ will engage with other government departments regarding the impact of legal aid policy changes and has begun discussions with the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government.
HM Treasury
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19
Accepted
MoJ acknowledges cost-shifting of legal aid reforms but struggles to quantify wider impacts
Recommendation
During this inquiry, we asked MoJ what it had done to look at the impact of reducing the scope of legal aid on other parts of government. While MoJ maintained that it is difficult to get an accurate measure of …
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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.
HM Treasury
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20
Accepted
Legally aided family mediation assessments remain significantly below pre-reform levels despite voucher scheme.
Recommendation
MoJ had expected that, following LASPO, more people with family law disputes would use mediation instead of court to resolve their disputes. However the number of legally aided mediation assessments (which determine whether a case is suitable for mediation) fell …
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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.
HM Treasury
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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 …
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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.
HM Treasury
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22
Accepted
Ministry of Justice demonstrates slowness in reviewing legal aid sustainability and provider fees.
Recommendation
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. …
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Government Response Summary
The MoJ acknowledges the need to monitor the profitability of legal aid work more regularly and is considering how best to do so, including through collaborative groups and the CLAAB, aiming for implementation by Winter 2024.
HM Treasury
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23
Accepted
Ministry of Justice lacks routine financial data for proactive legal aid provider sustainability assessments.
Recommendation
MoJ told us that the volume of information it has needed to collect from providers, including surveys on profitability, is the main reason that the reviews have taken so long to complete.63 While MoJ and LAA have collected information on …
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Government Response Summary
The MoJ acknowledges the need to monitor the profitability of legal aid work more regularly and is considering how best to do so, including through collaborative groups and the CLAAB, aiming for implementation by Winter 2024.
HM Treasury
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24
Accepted
Legal aid providers struggle to recruit and train staff, lacking civil fee review arrangements.
Recommendation
Maintaining a supply of qualified staff in the legal aid sector is crucial to ensuring the sustainability of legal aid. However, providers continue to raise concerns about their ability to train and recruit new staff.65 Evidence provided by the Law …
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Government Response Summary
The MoJ acknowledges the need to monitor the profitability of legal aid work more regularly and is considering how best to do so, including using data from representative groups and gathering evidence through the Review of Civil Legal Aid (RoCLA).
HM Treasury
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Conclusions (5)
2
Conclusion
Accepted
There are areas of the country lacking face-to-face provision of legal aid, which risks penalising vulnerable groups disproportionately. Stakeholders have consistently raised the issue of ‘legal aid deserts’ where large geographic areas lack a legal aid provider for specific categories of law. For example, large areas of the South West …
Government Response Summary
The government agreed, clarifying that citizens can use LAA tools to find face-to-face providers, and where none exist, LAA may intervene to find a firm or agent. It also committed to improving market intelligence and engaging firms to understand obstacles to providing legal aid and the impact of remote provision.
1
Conclusion
Accepted
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the Legal Aid Agency (LAA), and His Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) on value for money from legal aid, following reforms to the system in 2013.1 We also …
Government Response Summary
The government 'agreed' with this introductory conclusion by reiterating various commitments from other recommendations, including reviewing data on legal aid demand and access, identifying data collection improvements, commissioning research on monitoring demand for immigration legal aid, and assessing the ECF scheme's efficiency.
9
Conclusion
Not Addressed
LAA explained that for some places where there are local gaps in legal aid providers, people could seek remote advice from providers elsewhere in the country, providers in neighbouring areas or via its telephone service. MoJ stated there were some benefits of remote provision for many in providing a more …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Spring 2026. The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) monitors the supply and distribution of providers; holds regular qualitative discussions with providers which includes their workload; and liaises with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) if a policy remedy ought to be considered.
13
Conclusion
Not Addressed
The government also runs a separate Exceptional Case Funding (ECF) scheme for legal aid, intended as a safety net to provide legal aid for people whose human rights would be breached without it.32 Immigration cases that are no longer within scope of legal aid may still be eligible for legal …
Government Response Summary
The government response addresses a separate recommendation about access to legal aid for immigration matters and the ECF scheme, not the initial conclusion regarding challenges in finding a legal aid provider.
16
Conclusion
Not Addressed
Considerable wage inflation means the proportion of the population now eligible for legal aid has fallen. 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%). There was also a 16 percentage point decrease in those whose …
Government Response Summary
The government response addresses a separate recommendation about reviewing financial eligibility thresholds and doesn't acknowledge the initial conclusion about considerable wage inflation.