MoJ overhauls civil legal aid to crack down on "hopeless" judicial reviews

The government this week launched a revamp of the civil legal aid system in a bid to put a stop to low-value damages claims against public bodies and “hopeless” judicial reviews.

The changes, which will come into force from April 2010, include a restructuring of the Legal Services Commission’s committee that considers cases of wider public interest.

The Ministry of Justice said: “Public interest considerations allow cases to be granted funding even where the benefits to the individual litigant alone would not justify the likely costs, because other people will benefit from the outcome of the proceedings.

“Our changes will expand the role of the committee, and strengthen the rules so that cases will only receive public funding on this basis if there are realistic prospects of the outcome of the case providing benefits to others.”

The ministry also said that non-residents would no longer have routine access to civil legal aid, other than for immigration, asylum, child abduction, forced marriage and emergency housing cases. However, funding will still be available on an exceptional basis for human rights challenges against the government.

The MoJ said it expected the changes to cut £6m from the legal aid budget, with “more significant” savings delivered through the prevention of unmeritorious claims.

Legal aid minister Lord Bach said: “The government devotes very significant resources to civil legal aid. It is therefore important that we regularly look to ensure we’re getting the best value for money and even more importantly that the people who need help most are able to get it.

“The changes we have announced will ensure that fraudulent applications are detected before public funds are expended on them, and that legal aid is better targeted.”