Loss of early legal advice
Lack of understanding by the Ministry of Justice regarding the impact of removing early legal advice in various areas.
Source spread
Where this theme appears
This theme appears across 3 independent accountability sources, so the source mix matters as much as the headline total.
2 inquiry recs
95 committee recs
4 NAO recs
Browse by source
Source-grouped records are useful for tracing where a concern came from. Large sections show the 50 strongest matches for that source; counts still show the full theme total.
Inquiry recommendations(2)
78 — Revise Victims Code for CSA victims
Recommendation: 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, …
Gov response: On 16 January 2020, the College of Policing made changes to its Authorised Professional Practice to require police officers to provide victims with information on their rights and entitlements under the Victims' Code. On 16 …
Accepted
LAMI-36 — Require legal advice before emergency child harm action, ensure 24-hour availability
Recommendation: 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.
Unknown
Select committee recommendations(95)— showing 50 strongest matches
#44 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Response Pending
#42 —
Recommendation: 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)
Response Pending
#41 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Response Pending
#40 —
Recommendation: 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)
Response Pending
#32 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Response Pending
#31 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Response Pending
#20 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Response Pending
#19 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Response Pending
#18 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Response Pending
#17 —
Recommendation: 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, …
Response Pending
#16 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Response Pending
#15 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Response Pending
#9 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Response Pending
#8 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Response Pending
#6 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Response Pending
#2 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Response Pending
#1 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Response Pending
#48 —
Recommendation: The government must amend the legal aid means test in the magistrates’ court so that anyone charged with an either-way offence with the possibility of a sentence of 12 months or more in custody is subject to the same threshold …
Response Pending
#24 —
Recommendation: The government has acknowledged that, as more cases are dealt with in the magistrates’ courts, a greater proportion of defendants are likely to be ineligible for criminal legal aid than would have been had their case been heard in the …
Response Pending
#16 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Gov response: • The Legal Aid Agency meets with representative bodies on a bi-monthly basis to discuss the operation of the civil and crime legal aid contracts as well as other legal aid processes, including how they …
Position Not Stated
#14 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Gov response: • We agree with the Committee that Law Centres and other not-for profit providers play a vital role in helping people in communities across England and Wales access justice and resolve their legal problems. Over …
Accepted
#9 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Gov response: Turning to the legal aid market, the Ministry of Justice and Legal Aid Agency introduced a range of measures to help legal aid providers to weather the coronavirus pandemic while maintaining access to justice for …
Accepted
#7 —
Recommendation: Law centres and other not-for-profit legal advice providers are also at great risk.
Gov response: We agree with the Committee that Law Centres and other not-for profit providers play a vital role in helping people in communities across England and Wales access justice and resolve their legal problems. Over the …
Response Not Attributed
#6 —
Recommendation: Small high street firms are particularly at risk from the effects of coronavirus restrictions.
Gov response: In response to the pandemic, the Government announced an unprecedented package of support measures to assist those impacted by Coronavirus. Legal practitioners and firms have been able to access support from the Self-Employed Income Support …
Response Not Attributed
#3 —
Recommendation: Publicly funded legal services providers were already under stress before coronavirus.
Gov response: Turning to the legal aid market, the Ministry of Justice and Legal Aid Agency introduced a range of measures to help legal aid providers to weather the coronavirus pandemic while maintaining access to justice for …
Response Not Attributed
#24 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Gov response: We are developing an early legal advice pilot, which was a commitment in the Legal Support Action Plan. The pilot will test the impact of early legal advice in social welfare law (specifically focused on …
Accepted
#23 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Gov response: Since the launch of the Family Mediation Scheme on 26 March 2021, the Family Mediation Council on behalf of the Ministry of Justice has tracked weekly up take of the vouchers and are continuing to …
Not Addressed
#22 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Gov response: The Government agrees that the Housing Possession Court Duty Scheme (HPCDS) provides a very effective service for ensuring individuals are properly supported at court when they face the loss of their home. We are currently …
Accepted
#21 —
Recommendation: 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.
Gov response: recognising that legal aid forms part of a wider system, and the evidence gathered from this pilot will form part of our wider consideration on what the future civil legal aid system should look like. …
Position Not Stated
#23 — Stakeholders warn MoJ's actions on legal aid sustainability are insufficient and too slow
Recommendation: 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 …
Gov response: 5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: October 2026 5.2 The department recognises that understanding the sustainability of the market and taking steps to support it is important to maintain effective …
Response Pending
#20 — Previous committee highlighted MoJ's slow progress reviewing legal aid system sustainability
Recommendation: 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 …
Gov response: 5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: October 2026 5.2 The department recognises that understanding the sustainability of the market and taking steps to support it is important to maintain effective …
Response Pending
#18 — Ministry of Justice lacks comprehensive understanding of legal aid reforms' impact on local authorities
Recommendation: 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 …
Gov response: 4.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 4.2 The department has written to the Committee, alongside the Treasury Minute response, setting out the results of its survey of local authorities and any …
Response Pending
#17 — MoJ lacks understanding of early legal advice removal and litigant-in-person impacts.
Recommendation: 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 …
Gov response: 4.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 4.2 The department has written to the Committee, alongside the Treasury Minute response, setting out the results of its survey of local authorities and any …
Accepted
#16 — MoJ's understanding of wider legal aid reform costs remains disappointingly insufficient after a decade.
Recommendation: 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 …
Gov response: 4.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 4.2 The department has written to the Committee, alongside the Treasury Minute response, setting out the results of its survey of local authorities and any …
Response Pending
#5 — Require MoJ to routinely review profitability and sustainability for all types of legal aid.
Recommendation: 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 …
Gov response: The government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation. The government agrees that incentives on departments for cost reduction and productivity improvements should apply as equally to all services regardless of the funding mechanism. The Government Efficiency …
Not Accepted
#4 — Require MoJ to detail legal aid reform cost impact on local authorities and courts.
Recommendation: 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 …
Gov response: The government disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation. The government agrees that published information on fees and charges should be improved. This needs to be balanced against the wider aim to reduce the financial reporting burden …
Not Accepted
#49 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Response Pending
#39 —
Recommendation: 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)
Response Pending
#30 —
Recommendation: 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, …
Response Pending
#29 —
Recommendation: 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)
Response Pending
#28 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Response Pending
#27 —
Recommendation: 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)
Response Pending
#26 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Response Pending
#25 —
Recommendation: 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)
Response Pending
#23 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Response Pending
#22 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Response Pending
#21 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Response Pending
#14 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Response Pending
#12 —
Recommendation: 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 …
Response Pending
#11 —
Recommendation: Available evidence suggests that the financial position of legal aid providers has not improved since the report of our predecessor committee in 2021. It has broadly deteriorated further. There is significant evidence that criminal legal aid rates are fundamentally uneconomical …
Response Pending
NAO audit recommendations(4)
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 …
Accepted
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 …
Accepted
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 …
Rejected
Transforming courts and tribunals: a progress update
• set out what other sources of information it will use to assess ‘access to justice’ alongside travel time; and
Accepted