Boost for swifter justice as legal aid consultation launches

Vulnerable people, including those who are at risk of unfair eviction or being pushed into homelessness, could benefit from a £20 million a year boost in legal aid as a consultation is launched today (Friday, 24 January) as part of the Government's Plan for Change.

This would represent the first meaningful increase in civil legal aid fees in almost 30 years which, once fully implemented, will improve access to legal advice for people if they face unfair housing battles or are at risk of losing their home.

The investment, which represents a minimum of 10 percent increase in fees, will also support lawyers who provide advice to victims of modern slavery and trafficking as well as speeding up asylum processing. This will help us to deliver commitments on reducing the asylum backlog and ending hotel use and ensure that the most vulnerable are better able to navigate a complex legal system and get swifter access to justice.

Justice Minister, Sarah Sackman KC, said:

“Today's launch marks a crucial step towards rebuilding the legal aid sector which has been left neglected for years.

“A key part of our Plan for Change is ensuring the legal aid sector is on a sustainable footing. These proposals will make a real difference to helping support quicker access to justice for those who need it most.”

Today's consultation on the fee uplift marks an early step in the Government's response to the evidence gathered as part of the Review of Civil Legal Aid. This demonstrated that both the housing and immigration sectors are under particularly acute pressure.

In total the proposals would increase the spend on fees in the housing sector by 24 percent and for immigration and asylum work by 30 percent.

In addition to the fee proposals, the consultation is seeking further evidence from civil legal aid providers on improving access to remote legal advice. Fees for other civil legal aid categories will remain under consideration.

Last month the Government also committed to a consultation on uplifting fees for criminal legal aid for solicitors, having already provided a £24 million increase in fees for solicitors who work in police stations and Youth Courts.

Notes to editors:

On the Civil Legal Aid Consultation 

• The Government has launched a consultation on increasing legal aid fees for those working in the housing (housing and debt) and immigration (immigration and asylum) sectors, proposing to increase fees to a rate in the region of £65/£69 per hour (non-London/London), or provide a 10% uplift, whichever is higher. Fixed fees will be uplifted by the same percentage as the increase in the underlying hourly rate for that work. This will be implemented in 2025-26 with costs scaling up to £20m at steady state. This will increase overall spend by 24% for housing and 30% for immigration.
• We will continue to consider the fees paid in other categories of civil legal aid, including as part of the second phase of the Government's spending review, due in Spring 2025.
• Evidence from the Review of Civil Legal Aid (RoCLA) Call for Evidence included responses from providers that aspects of the current Civil Legal Aid contractual requirements can be unnecessarily restrictive. The consultation seeks to gather further evidence for improvements to arrangements for remote advice and assurance of face to face advice based on client needs. 

On The Review of Civil Legal Aid (RoCLA)

• The Government is committed to ensuring the civil legal aid system is effective, efficient and sustainable. 
• Evidence gathered from RoCLA presents findings on the experiences of citizens who access legal aid and the providers who deliver this vital service.
• Today the Government has also published five of the remaining reports from RoCLA: these are the Call for Evidence Summary; User Experience Literature Review; two Data Publications - Deep Dive reports for Housing and Immigration; and the Overarching Report. This evidence has informed the consultation and will continue to shape future policy direction.
• Publishing these reports will largely conclude the publication of evidence gathered through the Review. The reports will be available here: Review of Civil Legal Aid - GOV.UK. We intend to publish the last of the remaining reports, Data Publications: Deep Dive reports for other categories of law, by March 2025.

On Criminal Legal aid for solicitors

• In November, the government announced a £24m injection into police station and youth court fees as part of its Crime Lower consultation response. Those uplifts came into force on 6 December 2024, raising solicitor criminal legal aid fees by 12% since the Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review (CLAIR).
• December's announcement of an additional 12% uplift will therefore take the total uplift to 24% since CLAIR for criminal legal aid solicitors over this Parliament.
• Ministers have committed to working with the Bar leadership through the Criminal Legal Aid Advisory Board on longer-term reform of the criminal legal aid market.