Legal aid funding

This House notes that the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 came into force in April 2013, significantly limiting the scope and eligibility for legal aid; notes that the Westminster Commission on Legal Aid’s Inquiry in 2021 found that the public values legal aid as part of the state-funded safety net; acknowledges that the 2021 Legal Aid Practitioners Group Census indicates that the majority of practitioners currently working in legal aid reported that they had faced financial barriers to entering the sector, that training opportunities for new entrants are limited, and that there were poor rates of financial remuneration and challenging working conditions; further notes that, for criminal legal aid, the Government has committed to fee increases of just 9 per cent in 2023, increasing to 11 per cent in 2024, constituting a real-terms cut, contrary to the recommendations from the Independent Review of Criminal Legal Aid (CLAIR) which recommended an immediate minimum 15 per cent increase, resulting in the Law Society issuing proceedings against the Ministry of Justice; calls on the Government to urgently implement the CLAIR recommendations for criminal legal aid reform, including the recommended pay increase; further notes that, for civil legal aid, the Westminster Commission recommended a range of immediate changes to relieve pressures in legal aid service provision and workforce recruitment and retention while a national review of civil legal aid is ongoing; and calls on the Government to implement those changes with urgency.