Loss of early legal advice
Lack of understanding by the Ministry of Justice regarding the impact of removing early legal advice in various areas.
Strongest theme matches
Mixed across source types and ranked by classifier confidence plus text match strength.
Committee recommendation
100match
#17 - MoJ lacks understanding of early legal advice removal and litigant-in-person impacts.
MoJ’s Treasury Minute response indicated that it had begun discussions with the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government (MHCLG, or the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, as it was then called) to understand whether local authorities were funding immigration legal advice. However, its response on understanding the impact of removing other areas of early legal...
Matched on
terms: advice, early, legal
Committee recommendation
100match
#16 - MoJ's understanding of wider legal aid reform costs remains disappointingly insufficient after a decade.
For a decade, this Committee and its predecessors have urged MoJ to get a better understanding of the wider costs of its legal aid reforms. A 2015 report noted the lack of analysis MoJ had undertaken of the wider impacts of the reforms on itself and other government departments and stressed that it needed to do more.33 In...
Matched on
terms: advice, early, legal
Committee recommendation
100match
#4 - Require MoJ to detail legal aid reform cost impact on local authorities and courts.
More than ten years since the legal aid reforms, MoJ has still not demonstrated a sufficient understanding of the additional costs of legal aid reforms, particularly the impact of litigants in person. A decade ago our predecessors urged MoJ to get a better understanding of the wider costs of its reforms, which removed access to most early legal...
Matched on
terms: advice, early, legal
Committee recommendation
98match
#41 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
Accepting there is a lack of government appetite to reintroduce broad categories of law back into the legal aid scheme, the Ministry of Justice should reduce barriers to providers giving holistic early legal advice. For example, it should allow providers to give early advice on a wider range of legal issues under controlled work contracts. (Recommendation, Paragraph 120)...
Matched on
terms: advice, early, legal
NAO recommendation
93match
Government’s management of legal aid
MoJ should work with others to improve its understanding of the costs and benefits of legal issues removed from scope during legal aid reforms, to ensure that changes have not led to less efficient public spending. MoJ should focus on areas of stakeholder concerns including the impact of: ? the removal of early advice for issues such as...
Matched on
terms: advice, early, legal
Committee recommendation
92match
#18 - Ministry of Justice lacks comprehensive understanding of legal aid reforms' impact on local authorities
We asked MoJ what work it had done to better understand the effects of its legal aid reforms on local authorities and their legal advice services. MoJ said that it has surveyed local authorities to understand where they were providing additional legal advice and why, but it told us that it did not have a high response rate...
Matched on
terms: advice, legal
Committee recommendation
90match
#24 - 3rd Report - The Future of Legal Aid
We suggest that the civil legal aid system needs an updated version of the Green Form scheme, which was introduced in 1973, that would allow individuals to understand their rights and be directed to the services that are most appropriate for their situation. One suggestion we have received is that the Government could develop and pilot an ambitious...
Matched on
terms: advice, early, legal
Committee recommendation
90match
#23 - 3rd Report - The Future of Legal Aid
The Committee welcomes the introduction of the Family Mediation Voucher Scheme. It is a positive step and recognises that more needs to be done to help separating parents. We believe that if early legal advice was available alongside mediation, this would result in an increase in the numbers using mediation successfully.
Matched on
terms: advice, early, legal
Committee recommendation
90match
#21 - 3rd Report - The Future of Legal Aid
The Government should take a whole justice system approach to the reform of the civil legal aid framework. The provision of early advice can help to make the courts The Future of Legal Aid 69 work more effectively.
Matched on
terms: advice, early, legal
Committee recommendation
82match
#44 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
Legal aid must be available sufficiently early in the process to allow for cases to be properly assessed and prepared. The Ministry of Justice must set out how it will address funding the legal work required on these cases prior to public bodies being named as interested parties. (Recommendation, Paragraph 128)
Matched on
terms: early, legal
Committee recommendation
82match
#7 - 7th Report: Coronavirus (COVID-19): the impact on the legal professions in England and Wales
Law centres and other not-for-profit legal advice providers are also at great risk.
Matched on
terms: advice, legal
Committee recommendation
82match
#22 - 3rd Report - The Future of Legal Aid
The Government should consider whether the model of the possession duty scheme should be used in other areas of the civil justice system where there are significant numbers of litigants in person. Non-means tested advice at court on the day of hearing could provide an economical way of offering some legal support to vulnerable litigants. We commend the...
Matched on
terms: advice, legal
Committee recommendation
78match
#42 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
If the Hillsborough Bill implementation is successful, legal aid must be available both sufficiently early in a case, and at a rate which is comparable both to that of public authorities and other fee schemes. (Conclusion, Paragraph 126)
Matched on
terms: early, legal
Committee recommendation
78match
#40 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
The restrictive scope of the legal help scheme undermines early intervention, causing legal issues to escalate and contributing to increased harm and use of resources. (Conclusion, Paragraph 119)
Matched on
terms: early, legal
Committee recommendation
78match
#15 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
The proportion of adults in England and Wales eligible for civil legal aid is unacceptably low and misaligned with its policy goals. There is overwhelming evidence of a growing “justice gap” in England and Wales, whereby people are both ineligible for legal aid, and unable to afford legal advice and representation privately. Those in the ‘justice gap’ are...
Matched on
terms: advice, legal
Committee recommendation
74match
#31 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
Legal aid capacity is significantly constrained across all areas of social welfare law and mediation, and recent targeted increases in immigration and housing fees are unlikely to appreciably increase provision. We are not convinced that actions the Ministry of Justice is currently taking, including provider surveys, are sufficient. (Conclusion, Paragraph 102)
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
74match
#9 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
The government should liaise with the police and relevant stakeholders, such as The Law Society, to identify areas where shortages of duty solicitors are negatively impacting the administration of justice. The Lord Chancellor should use their powers under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) section 2(2) to directly fund additional duty solicitors in...
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
74match
#16 - 7th Report: Coronavirus (COVID-19): the impact on the legal professions in England and Wales
We urge the Ministry of Justice and the Legal Aid Agency to continue to be creative as to how legal aid is administered so that the legal professions are not further damaged by inflexible processes and contractual requirements on top of the problems arising directly from the coronavirus crisis. (Paragraph 42) Coronavirus (COVID-19): the impact on the legal...
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
74match
#14 - 7th Report: Coronavirus (COVID-19): the impact on the legal professions in England and Wales
We recommend that the Ministry of Justice considers further grants for law centres and other not-for-profit legal services providers that are at risk of collapse. The Ministry of Justice should report back to us with its decision and provide its reasons if it decides not to provide such grants, and state what provision it will make for users...
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
74match
#5 - Require MoJ to routinely review profitability and sustainability for all types of legal aid.
We remain unconvinced that MoJ has put in place sufficient measures to ensure the future sustainability of the legal aid market. In its 2024 report, this Committee raised concerns that while MoJ was undertaking large scale reviews of both criminal and civil legal aid it had not put in place mechanisms to routinely review the profitability of legal...
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
73match
#30 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
Despite its efforts, the Ministry of Justice lacks a sufficient understanding of legal aid demand, and consequently its current measures of service coverage are invalid. The Legal Aid Agency, due to the powers delegated to it as an executive agency, lacks the authority or tools to intervene effectively and ensure service provision. (Conclusion, Paragraph 101)
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
70match
#32 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
The reduction in the number of legal aid providers, both nationally and within particular areas of law and geographical regions, is sufficient to demonstrate that legal aid service provision is insufficient. There is no evidence to suggest that demand for legally aided services has decreased in line with this reduction. (Conclusion, Paragraph 103)
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
70match
#9 - 7th Report: Coronavirus (COVID-19): the impact on the legal professions in England and Wales
The Legal Aid Agency has made changes to help the legal professions. For example, it has made it easier to claim interim and hardship payments, aligned some fees for remote work with those for in-person work, and halted pursuit of outstanding debts owed to the Legal Aid Agency. Amanda Pinto told us “I am happy to say that...
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
70match
#6 - 7th Report: Coronavirus (COVID-19): the impact on the legal professions in England and Wales
Small high street firms are particularly at risk from the effects of coronavirus restrictions.
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
70match
#3 - 7th Report: Coronavirus (COVID-19): the impact on the legal professions in England and Wales
Publicly funded legal services providers were already under stress before coronavirus.
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
70match
#23 - Stakeholders warn MoJ's actions on legal aid sustainability are insufficient and too slow
Written evidence we received from organisations including the Law Society, Public Law Project and Law Centres Network all raised concerns about whether the actions MoJ has taken to date were sufficient or fast enough to tackle long-term sustainability issues.44 For example, the Law Society stressed that for civil legal aid, there is no mechanism to ensure regular fee...
Matched on
terms: legal
Inquiry recommendation
69match
LAMI-36 - Require legal advice before emergency child harm action, ensure 24-hour availability
No emergency action on a case concerning an allegation of deliberate harm to a child should be taken without first obtaining legal advice. Local authorities must ensure that such legal advice is available 24 hours a day.
Matched on
terms: advice, legal
Inquiry recommendation
68match
78 - Revise Victims Code for CSA victims
The Ministry of Justice should revise the Victims' Code to make clear that victims and survivors of child sexual abuse must be advised by the police that: 1. They are entitled to seek civil compensation through the civil courts and, if they wish to do so, should seek legal advice - they should be signposted to specialist lawyers...
Matched on
terms: advice, legal
Committee recommendation
66match
#20 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
In furtherance of its strategy to combat violence against women and girls, the government should ensure that a party is not left unrepresented in family proceedings involving domestic abuse, solely because they are in low-paid work rather than in receipt of a passported benefit. (Recommendation, Paragraph 71)
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
66match
#19 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
The government must commit to retaining “passporting” for civil legal aid in relation to those state welfare payments which are currently passported. This is crucial not only to protect access to justice, but also to minimise administrative burden on legal aid providers. (Recommendation, Paragraph 70)
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
66match
#18 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
Passported benefits for legal aid are vital both in ensuring those of limited means can access services, and in easing the administrative burden on legal aid providers. It would be a wasteful duplication to require providers to means-assess potential clients who are already in receipt of means- tested benefits. (Conclusion, Paragraph 69) 58
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
66match
#17 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
To prevent the ‘justice gap’ growing further in future, the government must institute a mechanism of regular uprating of the means test in line with pre-defined criteria. This could involve, for example, pegging the income threshold to median earnings. (Recommendation, Paragraph 64)
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
66match
#16 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
As with criminal legal aid, the government should immediately implement the Means Test Review and uprate the proposed thresholds to reflect inflation and updated cost-of-living data since the review’s baseline year. It should publish the methodology and revised thresholds alongside its implementation (Recommendation, Paragraph 63)
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
66match
#8 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
Targeted increases to some police station fixed fees are unlikely to be sufficient to ensure the sustainability of the service. The government has said that its intervention to increase funding for criminal duty solicitor schemes has put them on more stable footing. However, we are concerned that available evidence suggests this will be insufficient to arrest the decline...
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
66match
#6 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
The government must address how it will ensure defendants are not sentenced to a year or more in prison without any legal representation. This might include, but is not limited to: a. Implementing recommendation 29 of the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts by increasing income thresholds for legal aid in the magistrates’ court in line with the...
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
66match
#2 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
The government should immediately implement the Means Test Review and uprate the proposed thresholds to reflect inflation and updated cost-of-living data since the review’s baseline year. It should publish the methodology and revised thresholds alongside its implementation so that providers and clients can understand the government’s rationale. (Recommendation, Paragraph 12)
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
66match
#1 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
The eligibility threshold for criminal legal aid in the magistrates’ court is shockingly low and is contributing to increasing levels of self-representation. It is a clear denial of justice that an individual working for the national minimum wage may earn too much to be eligible for legal aid in the magistrates’ court. (Conclusion, Paragraph 11)
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
65match
#49 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
The Exceptional Case Funding scheme should be reformed in the following ways: a. The Ministry of Justice must regularly review the types of cases that obtain Exceptional Case Funding. Cases which are consistently granted funding should be included within the scope of the main legal aid scheme. b. Costs incurred by providers to apply for the scheme should...
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
65match
#29 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
We welcome the Ministry of Justice’s efforts to improve its monitoring of unmet demand. However, the evidence laid out above is clear and compelling enough for action to be taken now to address supply failures. (Conclusion, Paragraph 100)
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
65match
#28 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
The government should use its work on civil legal aid demand to target its interventions by area and category of law. In line with criminal legal aid, the government should directly fund training schemes for the most underserved categories of civil law. (Recommendation, Paragraph 89)
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
65match
#26 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
The recent government approach of targeted intervention in particular areas of civil law is insufficiently proactive, meaning that future provision of civil legal aid is not on a stable footing. The government is not thinking 59 strategically about its future supply of lawyers or how to ensure sectoral retention. Risks to the sustainability of the legal aid system...
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
65match
#25 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
Insufficient numbers of young lawyers are undertaking legally aided work in civil and family law. Firms lack capacity to train new staff or invest in new technology. (Conclusion, Paragraph 86)
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
65match
#23 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
Uplifting other civil legal aid fee schemes in line with housing and immigration increases is the minimum requirement to arrest the current lack of service provision and ongoing decline in the provider base. Fee increases should be retrospective, meaning they apply to work undertaken from the date on which the increase takes effect, rather than only to certificates...
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
65match
#22 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
As with eligibility, the government has failed to properly implement recommendations regarding improving system sustainability. Targeted interventions in civil legal aid, such as housing and immigration fee increases, are too little, too late to prevent further decline. In order to remain viable, the few civil legal aid providers who remain must cross- subsidise legal aid work with private...
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
62match
#20 - Previous committee highlighted MoJ's slow progress reviewing legal aid system sustainability
Our predecessor Committee’s 2024 report on legal aid stated that MoJ had been slow to initiate and complete its large-scale reviews of the sustainability of both the criminal and civil legal aid systems. It raised particular concerns around the civil legal aid sector where legal aid fees had not increased since 1996. The Committee recommended that MoJ needed...
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
61match
#39 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
Complex legal aid scope for civil legal aid matters creates confusion among both professionals and clients. It also contributes to system inefficiency and undermines provider sustainability. (Conclusion, Paragraph 118)
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
61match
#27 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
The government should, within 12 months, publish a civil legal aid workforce strategy. This should cover recruitment, retention, training capacity, succession planning and regional shortages. (Recommendation, Paragraph 88)
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
61match
#21 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
Civil legal aid rates are fundamentally uneconomical for providers, particularly in non-housing and non-immigration and asylum categories. Urgent action, of a greater scale than currently offered by the government, is required to retain even current levels of supply. (Conclusion, Paragraph 78)
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
61match
#14 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
Under the umbrella of the CLAAB, or otherwise, the government should set targets for recruitment and retention of criminal legal aid lawyers and take action if these are not met. These targets should be set at levels which will ensure the continued sustainability of criminal legal aid. (Recommendation, Paragraph 55) Civil Legal Aid
Matched on
terms: legal
Committee recommendation
61match
#12 - 3rd Report – Access to Justice: Legal Aid
Due to its slow implementation, the minimum funding outlined in the Bellamy review as a necessary “first step” is now outdated. Recent government increases in criminal legal aid fees, and its match-funded pupillage scheme, are welcome. However, these only enact the minimum cash requirements of the Bellamy review, which is now five years old. There is understandable distrust...
Matched on
terms: legal