- Response to consultation sees first major funding rise for
housing and immigration legal aid fees in 30 years
- Funding uplift aimed at helping those facing homelessness and
speeding up asylum processing
- An additional £20 million a year investment marks next step
in government's Plan for Change to rebuild legal aid sector
Vulnerable individuals at risk of eviction and homelessness will
find it easier to access legal services, thanks to a historic
boost in civil legal aid funding confirmed today (2 July) by
Minister .
Following feedback from a consultation into civil legal aid, the
Government will uplift the rates paid for all housing and
immigration legal aid work. Providers will see significant
increases in all fees, with the overall spending in these
categories increasing by 24% for housing work and 30% for
immigration work. This represents a significant investment – the
first since 1996 – resulting in an increase of £20 million a year
once fully implemented.
This extra funding means more people will get the support they
need, when they need it - reducing stress and preventing delays
in housing cases. At the same time, it will help speed up
decision-making in immigration cases, ensuring a fairer, faster
process for everyone involved. This is part of the Government's
Plan for Change to make the justice system more efficient, fair
and accessible.
Justice Minister, KC MP,
said:
“This vital investment marks a turning point for civil legal aid
by boosting funding to build capacity in the sector, helping to
enable individuals, regardless of background or income, to uphold
their legal rights.”
“As part of our Plan for Change we are ensuring that our legal
aid providers can deliver vital support where it's needed
most.”
This investment will help to ensure effective access to justice
for some of the most vulnerable in our society, supporting a more
stable and sustainable legal aid sector – one that is fit for the
future and attracts and retains the brightest and the best
practitioners.
Later this week a separate consultation on uplifting fees for
criminal legal aid for solicitors by up to £92 million will
conclude. It's part of the Government's wider work to invest in
the legal aid system and deliver swifter justice for victims
alongside Sir Brian Leveson's independent review of criminal
courts.
[END]
Notes to
editors:
On Civil Legal Aid
Consultation
· The Government ran 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 as soon as operationally
possible with costs scaling up to £20m at steady state. This will
increase overall spend by 24% for housing and 30% for
immigration.
· The changes would mean for
example that the fixed fee for Housing work will increase by 42%
from £157 to £223 and the fixed fee for asylum legal help will
increase by 35% from £413 to £559.
· 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
sought to gather further evidence for improvements to
arrangements for remote advice and face-to-face advice based on
client needs.
· We plan to implement these
fee uplifts as soon as operationally possible.
