Almost half of defendants facing imprisonable summary offences in magistrates’ courts appeared without a lawyer in the latest available data, creating an ‘unacceptably high risk’ of miscarriages of justice, MPs have warned.
A report published by the House of Commons Justice Committee warned that the declining accessibility of legal aid and increasing numbers of people representing themselves in court were creating an ‘unacceptably high risk of miscarriages of justice’. The committee found that legal aid eligibility had failed to keep pace with the cost of living, while falling numbers of providers had left support increasingly inaccessible across England and Wales.
The financial eligibility threshold for criminal legal aid in the magistrates’ court was ‘shockingly low’, MPs said. The threshold has not been increased since 2009, despite prices rising by 64%, meaning that a person working full-time for the national living wage may earn too much to qualify. The committee described this as a ‘clear denial of justice’.
For example, the report cited the case of a mother earning £18,000 through two jobs who was found ineligible for legal aid and had to face her former husband in court in proceedings involving allegations that he had sexually abused their five-year-old son.
The full extent of self-representation in magistrates’ courts was unknown because the government did not publish reliable representation data, the report said. The best available estimates suggested that as many as half of defendants could be unrepresented, including some facing imprisonment.
In April, CourtWatch found that nearly one in four of more than 2,300 observed hearings in London magistrates’ courts involved an unrepresented defendant. Courtwatchers reported examples of defendants who appeared to receive worse outcomes without a lawyer, as well as those ‘struggling to navigate proceedings’ without counsel or interpreters.
MPs urged ministers to publish representation data and commission independent research into whether defendants appearing without lawyers received different case outcomes. The committee also called on the government to explain how it would prevent defendants being sentenced to a year or more in prison without legal representation.
The criminal duty solicitor scheme was described as being in a ‘dire state’. The number of duty solicitors has fallen by a quarter since 2017, while only 7% are under the age of 35.
Richard Miller of the Law Society told the committee that criminal defence was ‘a profession that is becoming extinct before our very eyes’. Legal aid spending per person fell by 36.3% in real terms between 2007–08 and 2023–24, while work involving housing, family law, immigration and asylum was often loss-making for providers. The committee said there was ‘substantial evidence’ that the Lord Chancellor was failing in the statutory duty to secure the availability of legal aid. Under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, the Lord Chancellor must ensure that legal aid is available to those entitled to it.
Justice Committee chair Andy Slaughter called on ministers to introduce ‘fundamental and urgent reforms’ to restore legal aid as an effective and accessible service. ‘A legal aid system that people cannot qualify for or access, and that providers cannot sustainably deliver, is no system at all’, he stated.
