Review of Civil Legal Aid: overarching summary report
This report summarises evidence gathered from each review of Civil Legal Aid workstream into themed categories, including some key challenges facing the civil legal aid system.
Applies to England and Wales
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The Ministry of Justice undertook a review of Civil Legal Aid, which launched in January 2023. The review considered the civil legal aid system in its entirety, from how services are procured and how well the current system works for users and providers, to how civil legal aid impacts the wider justice system. In addressing the issue of sustainability, the review also considers the efficiency and effectiveness of the system.
The breadth of the review’s analytical workstreams means there are a range of findings from across the civil legal aid system, with some findings being corroborated across multiple workstreams and others coming primarily from one. In places, the findings from RoCLA align with those from broader pieces of work the MOJ has undertaken, and the report spotlights these links, where helpful. At its inception RoCLA was designed to take a holistic approach to evidence gathering, drawing together multiple evidence sources, to determine how to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of civil legal aid, ensuring long term sustainability. Consequently, it is crucial that evidence is considered as a collective body. This report therefore plays an important role in bringing together the review’s evidence to identify key issues within the system.
To present the findings, this report is split into 3 parts:
- Part 1 focuses on the accessibility of civil legal aid for users
- Part 2 examines the effectiveness of civil legal aid systems for both users and providers
- Part 3 explores the functioning of the civil legal aid market