Issued by: Ministry of Justice

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 Sarah Sackman.

• 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

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, Sarah Sackman 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.

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.

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