The public spending watchdog has lambasted the state of legal aid, finding an almost 30% reduction on legal spending in the last decade.
A new report by the National Audit Office, Government’s management of legal aid, also says the Ministry of Justice lacks understanding of the demand for legal aid. This means it cannot ensure legal advice is available to those entitled to it.
In real terms, government spending on legal aid fell by £728m from 2012-13 to 2022-23. This means it cannot ensure legal aid is available to those who need it.
The real world impact of this has been the creation of large legal aid deserts. The vice president of the Law Society of England and Wales, Richard Atkinson, said: ‘Millions of people now live in areas where they can no longer access the help and advice that Parliament has said they are entitled to.’
This particularly impacts people fighting evictions, victims of abuse, or vulnerable people trying to access care they are entitled to.
The availability of legal aid impacts access to justice in many areas. On this, Richard Atkinson said: ‘The NAO report states that swift access to justice is one of the MoJ’s primary objectives. However, theoretical eligibility for legal aid is not enough to achieve this objective if there are an insufficient number of providers willing or able to provide it.’
‘The MoJ must ensure that access to legal aid – which is itself a core element of access to justice – is supported by a sustainable and resilient legal aid market.’
The National Audit Office’s report also highlights the impact of legal aid funding on the overall efficiency of the justice system, as more people try to represent themselves in court, and there simply aren’t enough solicitors available to represent people at police stations and magistrates courts.