LCN responds to legal aid fees increase

On Wednesday, 2nd July, the government announced that it will increase legal aid fees for housing and immigration work, by 24% and 30% respectively.

LCN welcomes the increase to housing and immigration civil legal aid fees; this is of particular importance to Law Centres, that make up 1 in 7 of immigration legal aid providers and 1 in 8 of housing legal aid providers.

However, it is clear that more is needed to bolster the future of this vital public service. We have argued this in responding to the Ministry of Justice consultation on these changes. We also continue to maintain this in a new joint statement with the Legal Aid Practitioners Group, The Housing Law Practitioners’ Association and the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association.

This is the first increase in legal aid fees for almost three decades—the last came in 1996. LCN and its sector partners are concerned that the modest increase does not go far enough. Some housing and immigration legal aid work will only see a 10% fee increase, which lags behind inflation.

We also call for the increase to be extended to all areas of legal aid work, not just housing and immigration. All areas of legal aid have been similarly affected by decades-long lack of investment.

Lastly, we are concerned about how the increase will be implemented. There is currently no clear timeline when the increases will come into effect. The ongoing fallout from the Legal Aid Agency data breach has put the legal aid sector under considerable additional strain and it is important that this much-needed boost is not delayed further.

LCN director, Julie Bishop, said:

“This announcement is a step in the right direction, but it will do little to put legal aid on a sustainable footing. Legal aid lawyers protect people’s homes and defend livelihoods. This public benefit is at risk if they are not paid properly, which is why we call for the increase to be introduced promptly and across all categories of legal aid.”

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