Civil legal aid: first increase to fees in 28 years welcomed

Hourly rates for immigration and housing will increase by at least 10%, and in some cases significantly more, under changes announced by the lord chancellor Shabana Mahmood.

It is the first time fees have increased for civil legal aid providers since the mid-90s and will apply to both controlled and licensed work.

The government has said it will consult on the changes in January.

A welcome step but more is needed

As with the recent announcement of £24 million for criminal legal aid, the lord chancellor signaled further improvements to come.

This must include a commitment to much needed investment in other areas of civil and criminal legal aid, which are vital public services.

“Legal aid should be a pillar of public services nationwide and unfair treatment in our justice system harms us all,” said Law Society president Richard Atkinson.

“It is encouraging to see that the government has increased hourly rates, recognising the importance of investing in civil legal aid to level the playing field for those of us seeking access to justice.

“Better availability of legal advice protects all people and communities and reduces the strain on other public services.

“This investment will help ease the huge asylum backlog, ensuring the efficient running of the system in a way that gets the right decision at the earliest opportunity.

“The investment in housing legal aid, and the further investment we hope to see in the near future, is vital to enable all of us have the advice that we need to access justice, which is fundamental to the collective good of society.”

How legal aid can reduce strain on public services

We commissioned research by Frontier Economics showing the benefits of investment in legal advice to reduce the strain on public services.

For example, approximately 10% of all rental properties in England and Wales have significant disrepair issues, which is estimated to cost the NHS £355 million each year.

Our research found that if reforms to housing legal aid reduced significant housing disrepair by just 5%, the savings to the NHS could be more than £15 million each year.

Next steps

“Underfunding our justice system denies us a vital public service.

“The government must now continue acting for the common good and invest across all areas of civil legal aid,” said Richard.

“We call on the government to restart the review of civil legal aid and provide a timetable for further investment, as well as steps to reduce the cost of delivering legal aid services, setting out a clear vision for putting this public service on a sustainable footing.”