Legal aid costs – the facts

June 20th, 2011
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The overall legal aid bill rose from £889m in 1988-89 to £2,100m in 2008-09 (at 08-09 prices). But within those figures, legal aid costs for criminal cases in the higher courts rose more than twice as much as costs for legal help and advice in civil and family cases.

Criminal legal aid costs in the higher courts more than tripled, from £221m to £700m (216% increase). This is mainly fees to barristers  - which are not being cut in the    MoJ’s legal aid reforms.

The lowest increase over those 20 years was the cost of legal help and advice  in civil and family cases, which doubled from £128m to £263m (105% increase).  This is largely charged by relatively low paid solicitors.

Civil legal aid help and advice is bearing the brunt of the cuts in the MoJ’s legal aid reforms, which will cut the number of advice cases by 502.000 annually.

References:

From the MoJ Green Paper ‘Proposals for the Reform of Legal Aid in England and Wales,’ published November 2010:

3.40 Since 2003–04, the increase in legal aid spending has been contained, and the overall cost of legal aid has fallen by around 11% in real terms. Nevertheless, by 2008–09, legal aid expenditure was more than double its cost in 1988–89 in real terms.  (page 30)

Appendix K, Table B

From the Justice Select Committee Report March 2011:

 

 

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