Legal Aid Agency Annual Report
The Legal Aid Agency’s annual report and statistics for 2013/14 have recently been published. This is the first annual report since the introduction of LASPO and shows the impact of the cuts to legal aid.
We have highlighted some of the key points below:
- Total number of acts of assistance fell from 2.3million in 2012/13 to 1.8million.
- The total spend on acts of assistance in 2013/14 was £1.8 billion compared to £1.9 billion the previous year. It should be remembered that the figure for 2013-14 will include a high proportion of cases that started pre LASPO.
- The number of new matters started under legal help (excluding housing possession court duty scheme and telephone operator service) dropped to 172,501 from 592,368 the previous year. Numbers of new matters were already decreasing however; in 2009/10 the figure was 942,882.
- Mediation starts fell to 8.400, a 38% decrease compared to the previous year.
- The number of certificates granted for civil representation has fallen by 30% between 2010/11 and 2013/14.
- In 2012/13 there were 49,218 legal aid certificates granted for Private Law Children Act Proceedings. This fell to 16,662 in 2013/14.
- A total of 1520 applications for exceptional case funding were made in 2013-14. 69% relating to family or immigration cases. Only 69 applications were successful, 53 of which were for inquests.
- The number of civil providers has nearly halved since 2007-08. The 2013-14 figure represents a 25% drop from 2012/13.
- The number of criminal providers has decreased by 16% in that period.
- The number of not for profit providers dropped from 866 in 2012/13 to 95 in 2013/14.
The statistics show the dramatic affect that LASPO has already had on acts of assistance and the number of legal aid providers. The effects of LASPO will be felt further over the coming years as on-going cases that started before April 2013 gradually conclude.
It should also not be forgotten that as part of ‘Transforming Legal Aid’ the Government have reduced hourly rates for s31 Children Act cases. When combined with the recent changes to the public law outline, firms are inevitably going to see a reduction in the average costs recovered from the LAA in those cases over the coming years.
The full statistics can be viewed here
And the annual report and accounts are available here
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