| SPOTLIGHT |
The Ministry of Justice has announced a government review to ‘explore options’ to improve the civil legal aid market.
The research is intended to identify options for improving “long-term sustainability of the legal aid system for people facing civil and family legal issues”.
The review will commission an external economic analysis of the civil legal aid market to better understand how people access funding and support, the MoJ said.
The final report of the review is not due to be published until 2024 meaning policy decisions may not be implemented before the next General Election.
Justice Minister, Lord Bellamy, said: “This comprehensive review will give us a wealth of evidence on the civil legal aid systems, how services are provided, and of the issues facing the market.
“Identifying how we can make provision work best for everyone will help ensure we are building a more efficient and effective system to deliver sustainable legal aid support well into the future.”
The Bar Council suggested that the review was “long overdue” and warned that interim measures were “needed now to prevent the complete collapse of the system”.
Recent reports published by the Bar Council on civil legal aid outlined the severity of the problems caused by the funding cuts to civil legal aid in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO).
Nick Vineall KC, Chair of the Bar, said: “A review of civil legal is essential and long overdue. The cuts to civil legal aid a decade ago have had a profound impact on access to justice and on the lawyers who undertake legally aided work for individuals and families. This adversely affects the most vulnerable in society.
“The widespread closure of advice centres and high street solicitors providing early legal advice has created multiple problems in the system. Unnecessary and costly court cases, an increase in people struggling to represent themselves, and increasingly stressful work for lawyers having to firefight.”
Vineall added: “Whilst it is important that the review is comprehensive, a lot of the evidence for change already exists. We are concerned that the timetable for the review is too slow given the year-on-year decline in providers.
“The review is not due to report in 2024, so any changes are not likely to take place until 2025 at the earliest. That delay creates a threat in itself. Our solicitor colleagues who provide the critical first line of advice are increasingly leaving the legal aid market altogether because present levels of remuneration are simply unsustainable.
“Unless interim measures are put in place to shore up existing provision there will be no system left by 2025. Urgent action is needed now to prevent the complete collapse of the system and we urge the Government to consider short-term interim measures on fees and scope.”
The Law Society of England and Wales also suggested that there is “an urgent need for immediate investment” in civil legal aid.
President Lubna Shuja said: “The Law Society has called for a review of civil legal aid sustainability for a long time – it’s good to see the UK government is finally making it happen.
“A well-functioning civil justice system is vital to the economic health and social wellbeing of our country. Legal aid is an essential part of this. We have a justice system that’s the envy of the world, but without investment, it is falling apart.”
Shuja said that over the past decade the number of legal aid firms had nearly halved, while the number of people struggling to represent themselves in the family courts had trebled and court backlogs were ever increasing.
“For every civil legal provider that closes its doors, there is a child not getting the education they need, a family facing eviction, fighting for welfare benefits to stay afloat in these turbulent times or a vulnerable person denied access to the care they’re entitled to,” she added.
Shuja warned that civil legal aid providers were facing “an existential crisis without immediate cash investment”.
“The last time fees were increased was in 1996, over 25 years ago. On top of this, the government imposed a further 10% fee-cut in 2011. This represents a real-terms cut of 49.4% in fees to 2022,” she said.
“Firms have been closing their legal aid departments year on year, as it’s no longer financially viable, and the number of providers with civil legal aid contracts has been falling.
“Law Society analysis suggests that the number of providers starting legal aid work could drop by a third by 2025, leaving many without access to a lawyer when they desperately need one.”
The Government has announced that it will issue a tender this month inviting third parties to bid to undertake the external analysis.
The MoJ has said that the review will also include publications of further data on how civil legal aid is accessed and delivered across England and Wales to help inform future decisions.
Lottie Winson
