Legal aid statistics England and Wales bulletin Jan to Mar 2022
Published 30 June 2022
Applies to England and Wales
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Main Points
Figures for this latest quarter continue to be impacted by the covid-19 pandemic with courts and other parts of the justice system recovering from lockdown and social distancing restrictions.
| Police station advice workload saw a 4% increase this quarter with a 5% increase in corresponding expenditure. | ⬈ | This compares against a particularly low January to March quarter in 2021 and is an overall flattening of the trend. | ||
| Representation orders granted in magistrates’ court declined 11% while Crown Court decreased by 13%. | ⬊ | The early workload indicators for court volume and eventual fee payments show falling workload across the two courts. | ||
| In the magistrates’ court completed work decreased by 10% and associated expenditure decreased by 5% when compared to the same period last year. | ⬊ | When compared to the period from January to March 2020 they increased by 5% and increased by 6% respectively. | ||
| Crown Court expenditure increased this quarter up by 29% compared with the same period of the previous year. | ⬈ | When compared against the pre-covid-19 period from January to March 2020 they have fallen by 3%. | ||
| Civil legal aid closed case expenditure increased this quarter; up by 12% compared to January to March 2021. | ⬈ | This increase is driven by family civil representation expenditure increasing by 15% over the same period. | ||
| Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting volumes were 14% lower than in the same quarter of 2021. | ⬊ | Mediation starts were 27% lower and outcomes also were 17% lower. | ||
| Applications for civil representation supported by evidence of domestic violence or child abuse decreased by 10%. | ⬊ | The volume of these granted decreased by 10% compared to the same period of 2021. | ||
| There were 913 applications for Exceptional Case Funding received in the last quarter. | ⬈ | This remains unchanged compared to the same quarter last year. |
This edition comprises the first release of official statistics for the three-month period from January to March 2022 and the latest statement of all figures for previous periods. For technical detail, please refer to the User guide to legal aid statistics.
Statistician’s Comment
This publication shows that completed workload and the associated expenditure across both criminal and civil legal aid has increased year on year and has also increased more over the recent quarters, due to recovery from covid-19; in addition,– total civil expenditure is at its highest level since 2014-15.
Criminal legal aid expenditure increased compared to the same quarter last year in schemes that support the court system, including the magistrates’ and Crown Court. The incoming workload for representation at the courts had returned to levels seen in the period pre-covid-19 but in the last two quarters we’ve seen falls in both courts suggesting a sustained fall in cases reaching court. There are increases in expenditure this quarter compared to the previous year, however when compared to pre-covid-19 and two years previously, expenditure has still not fully recovered.
Civil legal aid volumes and expenditure show a mixed picture compared to last year. Overall civil expenditure is returning to pre-pandemic levels driven by family law expenditure. Other non-family workload has not recovered to the same extent and this is driven by the slow recovery of housing work following the impact of covid-19 although in the last quarter this has increased. Overall civil legal aid workload still remains below pre-pandemic levels although trends are increasing in domestic violence, mental health and immigration within exceptional case funding.
Our client diversity has remained unchanged across the schemes with consistent proportions across age, gender, disability and ethnicity. Over the last 5 years there has been a fall in the number of provider offices completing legal aid work but in the most recent year there has been a slight increase. The legal aid provider base in both civil and criminal legal aid that completed work during the last year has slightly increased when compared to the falls seen last year.
It was expected that criminal and civil legal aid volumes would return to, and even temporarily exceed, historic trend levels and more recent falls could be due to this return to normal levels
Things you need to know
These symbols are used throughout this release to navigate to other documents of interest:
| Web Tool | Help | Tables |
| Click for tool allowing user-defined charts and tables | Click for document giving definitions and explanations | Click for access to tables of figures |
To understand trends in legal aid as a whole, it is best to begin by looking at annual expenditure figures and then look at trends in both workload and expenditure for each category of legal aid. Summarising workload activity across the whole legal aid system meaningfully within a single number is difficult because of the diversity of services included and different stages in delivery. For example, legal aid work can be measured at the point when an order for legal aid is granted, or after all the legal aid work is completed and the provider has been paid. Expenditure on legal aid is measured differently for different purposes. The three most often-used measures, shown in Figure 1, are:
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Closed-case expenditure is the measure used for expenditure figures throughout these legal aid statistics. It represents the total value of payments made to legal aid providers in relation to pieces of work that are completed in the period. This basis is comparable to volumes of completed work to which it relates, and to the same fine level of detail.
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RDEL (Resource Departmental Expenditure Limits) nominal is the main budgeting measure used by government to control current spending, both to set budgets for future years and report on how much has been spent. It represents the value of work carried out in the period better than the closed-case measure but cannot be broken down to such a fine level of detail. This measure does incorporate income and expenditure in relation to debt. Nominal here means not adjusted for inflation.
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RDEL real is the RDEL measure adjusted for inflation to make the value of spending in previous years directly comparable with the specified year.
These measures show a large reduction in legal aid expenditure from around 2010-11, mostly due to changes to the scope of civil legal aid introduced by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act from 2013-14, reductions in criminal legal aid workloads and reductions in the fees payable to legal aid providers. 2021-22 figures are updated once accounts are laid before parliament.
Figure 1: Overall annual legal aid expenditure, by closed-case and RDEL nominal and real terms measures (£m), 2005-06 to 2020-21 (see interactive breakdown table 1.0)
Criminal legal aid
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In the magistrates’ court the volume of completed work decreased by 10% and associated expenditure decreased by 5% when compared to the same period last year Overall Crown Court expenditure increased this quarter up by 29% compared with the same period of the previous year. ———————————————————————————————————————-
Criminal legal aid can be categorised into Crime Lower and Crime Higher.
Crime Lower (covered in tables 2.1 and 2.2) includes police station advice, magistrates’ court and prison law. Table 2.1 provides the Crime Lower workload whereas table 2.2 gives the Crime Lower expenditure.
Crime Higher (covered in tables 4.1 to 4.4) covers work in the Crown and Higher Courts.
Figure 2: Crime overview, closed case volumes and expenditure for January to March 2022, and comparison with January to March 2021
| Crime Overview | Workload | Expenditure |
|---|---|---|
| Crime | 248,964(1%⬊) | £195.9m(19%⬈) |
| Crime Lower | 211,748(1%⬊) | £61.5m(1%⬈) |
| Crown Court | 37,216(3%⬊) | £134.5m(29%⬈) |
| Crime Lower Category | Workload | Expenditure |
|---|---|---|
| Police Station Advice | 142,192(4%⬈) | £28.9m(5%⬈) |
| Magistrates’ courts | 65,016(10%⬊) | £27.5m(5%⬊) |
| Advice & assistance on appeals | 262(6%⬈) | £473.9k(10%⬈) |
| Prison Law | 4,259(14%⬈) | £4.6m(12%⬈) |
| Civil work associated with crime | 19(27%⬈) | £7.5k(19%⬊) |
| Crown Court Category | Workload | Expenditure |
|---|---|---|
| Solicitor fee scheme | 19,109(1%⬊) | £80.1m(35%⬈) |
| Advocate fee scheme | 18,106(5%⬊) | £53.7m(20%⬈) |
| High Cost crime cases | 1(100%⬈) | £660k(100%⬈) |
Although Crown Court work comprises a relatively small portion of criminal legal aid in terms of volume, it accounts for around two-thirds of all criminal legal aid expenditure. Conversely, advice relating to the police station makes up the largest portion of workload, but a much smaller proportion of expenditure.
Figure 3a: Workload in criminal legal aid, April to June 2011 to January to March 2022 (see interactive charts of crime lower and crown court)
Figure 3b: Expenditure in criminal legal aid, April to June 2011 to January to March 2022 (see interactive breakdown of crime lower and crown court)
Note: Advice and assistance on appeals and civil work associated with crime are excluded from these figures.
Police station advice
This category made up two thirds of the Crime Lower workload between January and March 2022 but less than half of the expenditure. The workload (covered in table 2.1) in this period has decreased by 4% compared to the previous year, with expenditure (covered in table 2.2) decreasing by 5% (£1.3m). This continues the general downward trend seen over the last three years. The decrease in police station advice workload since 2013-14 is also seen in arrest statistics for England and Wales[footnote 1] , which has had a similar decline historically.
The majority of the police station advice workload (89% in January and March 2022) consists of suspects receiving legal help with a solicitor in attendance at the police station, with the rest mainly consisting of legal advice over the telephone.
Applications and grants for representation in the criminal courts
While figures should be interpreted with caution as they may be revised in subsequent quarters as cases move into the Crown court, the number of orders granted for legally-aided representation in the magistrates’ court decreased by 11% this quarter when compared to the same quarter of the previous year. In comparison with January to March 2020, the number of orders granted decreased by 18%. This continues the downward trend of the last 3 years, which has been largely driven by Summary Only cases. The overall number of trial receipts in the magistrates’ court (including those not involving legal aid but covering more serious cases) was 8% down over the same period. The proportion of these applications that are granted remains stable at around 95%.
Orders granted for legally-aided representation in the Crown Court (covered in tables 3.2) also decreased to a larger degree, by 13% this quarter compared to last year, comparing to an 12% decrease in Crown Court trial receipts. Within the legal aid figure, orders relating to either-way offences decreased by 16% (14% in court statistics), while those relating to indictable offences decreased by 7% (8% for the court statistics). The proportion of Crown Court applications granted remains at almost 100%.
Magistrates’ court completed work
Legally-aided representation in the magistrates’ court comprised almost one-third of the workload and just under half of expenditure in Crime Lower between January to March 2022. The volume of completed work (covered in table 2.1) in the magistrates’ court decreased by 10% this quarter when compared to the same period of the previous year. Expenditure also decreased by 5% (£1.3m). These are comparisons against a high workload recovery in January to March 2021 following the initial impact of covid-19. The workload and expenditure increased by 5% and 6% respectively from the pre-covid quarter in January to March 2020. Some increase is driven by the accelerated Criminal legal aid reforms since October 2020 which cover payment for work on sending cases to the Crown Court. This new category shown in the tables accompanying this bulletin had 9,333 claims costing around £2.1m completed this quarter.
Crown Court completed work
Completed work volumes (covered in table 4.1) within the litigator (solicitor) fee scheme increased by 1% in January to March 2022 compared to the same period of the previous year, driven mainly by a 40% increase in trial claims. This recovery in workload is from extra resource within the HMCTS estate and completion of jury trials from the outstanding backlogs. When compared to the pre-covid quarter in 2020 the current workload decreased by 1% with a 5% fall in trial claims.
In the advocate fee scheme, completed claims decreased by 5% compared to the same period last year. When compared to the pre-covid quarter in 2020 the current workload decreased by 10%.
Figure 4a: Workload in the Crown Court, April to June 2011 to January to March 2022 (see interactive breakdown here)
In the litigator fee scheme (covered in table 4.2), expenditure increased by 35% in January to March 2022 compared to the same period of the previous year (although a 7% decrease against the pre-covid period). This is driven by a 48% rise in trial expenditure following the increase in trial claims. In the advocate fee scheme (covered in table 4.3), the value of payments increased by 20% compared to the same period of the previous year. This should be seen in the context of a 1% increase against the pre-covid period from 2020 and is again driven by a 17% increase in trial expenditure. Figures for expenditure on work completed in the Crown Court should be interpreted with caution as they may be revised in subsequent quarters as claims are assessed further on appeal and further payments added to the value of some completed claims.
The Very High-Cost Case (VHCC) scheme (covered in table 4.4) covers those Crown Court cases which, if the case were to proceed to trial, would likely last more than 60 days. These cases can span several years and, while they may involve small numbers of defendants, the associated expenditure is high in comparison. There was 1 defendant represented in the VHCC contracts that concluded in the January to March 2022 quarter. Expenditure on this work over the duration of the contracts (i.e. on the closed-case basis) was £660k. While workload comprises a tiny proportion of legal aid in the Crown Court overall, the VHCC scheme represents less than 1% of the cost, although down from over 15% ten years ago.
Figure 4b: Expenditure in the Crown Court, April to June 2011 to January to March 2022
(see interactive breakdown here)
The large falls in completed expenditure are a consequence of the large fall in the number of jury trials completing in the Crown Court, as all expenditure across the case will be in the final main bill. Figure 4c below, looking at the litigator fee scheme in isolation but equally applicable to both schemes, shows the impact of falling trials on expenditure – these types of cases are more likely to be impacted as they need more courtroom space and distancing measures and are likely to include witnesses and members of the public in the jury pool. Trial completed expenditure has been more adversely affected than guilty pleas and cracked trials, where a defendant changes their plea before the trial, with litigator fee expenditure recovering from the July to September 2020 low of £16.6 million. Expenditure has since increased to £53.3 million. A lack of available resources had led to fewer jury trials with a subsequent increase in trials awaiting completion.
Figure 4c: Litigator Fee Scheme Crown Court workload and expenditure by claim type, April to June 2017 to January to March 2022 (see interactive chart here)
Prison Law
Workload (covered in table 2.1) this quarter increased by 14% compared with the same period in the previous year, driven by free standing advice and assistance which increased by 25% compared to last year and has increased by 9% since last quarter (see figure 5a). Advocacy at parole board hearings currently makes up around two-fifths of prison law workload, but a much larger proportion of costs (76%), so expenditure on prison law overall increased by 12% over this period. Although the prison law workload increased compared to last year, it decreased by 14% when compared to January to March 2020. This is to a much lesser degree reflected in the expenditure which decreased by only 1% over the 2-year period due to the rise in parole board workload.
Since April to June 2020, the workload and expenditure (covered in table 2.2) for advocacy assistance at prison discipline hearings has remained low. Year-to-year comparisons show that workload decreased by 13% and expenditure decreased by 16% this quarter compared to last year. This continues the downward trend of this prison law category.
Figure 5a: Prison Law completed workload, April to June 2011 to January to March 2022 (see interactive chart here)
Figure 5b: Prison Law completed expenditure, April to June 2011 to January to March 2022 (see interactive chart here)
*New categories not shown: ‘advocacy assistance at sentence reviews’ and ‘advocacy assistance at Parole Board reconsideration hearings’
Central funds
In 2021-2022 the total expenditure for Central Funds was £42m. This is 32% higher than the previous year but compared to the pre-covid period it is still 22% down.
This area includes arrangements to meet costs in a variety of scenarios that are not covered by the main criminal legal aid schemes. Some aspects of these are administered by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) and others by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service. In 2021-2022 the total expenditure for Central Funds was £42m (Figure 6). This is 32% higher than the previous year and largely driven by the increase in court hearings during the financial year after the pandemic.
Figure 6: Central Funds expenditure, 2015-2016 to 2021-2022
*Other includes intermediaries, private prosecutions and costs of attending magistrates’ court for witnesses, experts and defendants
A large category of expenditure (£5.4m in 2021-2022 relates to the reimbursement of defendants who have been acquitted after privately funding their defence lawyers. The process for assessing and authorising reimbursement of costs from central funds in this scenario is normally triggered when a judge grants a Defence Cost Order (DCO) for legal aid at magistrates’, Crown or higher courts.
Another sizeable area of Central Funds expenditure (£12m in 2021-2022) covers the costs of lawyers required where a defendant is unrepresented but where the court decides that the defendant must not themselves be allowed to cross-examine a vulnerable witness, with cases involving domestic violence being typical. This situation is covered by the terms of section 38 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999. The costs of interpreters and translators in court comprise another area of Central Funds expenditure (£11.2m in 2021-2022). The remainder of Central Funds expenditure goes to meet the costs of court intermediaries (£7.7m in 2021-2022) and successful private prosecutions (£4.8m in 2021-2022) and towards meeting some of the reasonable costs of attending magistrates’ court for witnesses, experts and defendants (£1m in 2021-2022).
Civil legal aid
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Civil legal aid closed case expenditure increased this quarter; up by 12% compared to January to March 2021. This increase is driven by family civil representation expenditure increasing by 15% over the same period. Civil expenditure also exceeded pre-covid levels; up 15% compared to January to March 2020 whereas total civil workload remained lower than pre-pandemic figures (down 4%). Total civil expenditure is the highest it has been since 2014-15.
Civil legal aid can be categorised by area of law into family and non-family. The category of family legal aid covers all work on both private and public family law and includes work associated with the Children Act, domestic abuse, financial provision and family mediation. Non-family legal aid encompasses all work related to immigration, mental health, housing and other non-family law.
Figure 7: Civil overview, closed case volumes and expenditure for January to March 2022, and comparison with January to March 2021
| Civil Overview | Workload | Expenditure |
|---|---|---|
| Civil | 64,089(2%⬈) | £222.2m(12%⬈) |
| Family | 29,034(2%⬈) | £182.3m(14%⬈) |
| Non-Family | 30,095(7%⬈) | £38.4m(3%⬈) |
| Family Category | Workload | Expenditure |
|---|---|---|
| Family Public | 18,307(1%⬊) | £148.8m(13%⬈) |
| Family Private | 10,727(7%⬈) | £33.5m(19%⬈) |
| Mediation and MIAMs | 4,960(16%⬊) | £1.5m(14%⬊) |
| Non-Family Category | Workload | Expenditure |
|---|---|---|
| Immigration | 10,572(5%⬈) | £9.8m(1%⬈) |
| Mental Health | 8,748(1%⬈) | £11.9m(10%⬈) |
| Housing | 7,035(18%⬈) | £4.6m(17%⬊) |
| Other Non-Family | 3,740(7%⬈) | £12.2m(9%⬈) |
Although workload for family and non-family law cases are similar, Non-family comprises a relatively small proportion of civil legal aid expenditure. Public family legal aid makes up two thirds of family legal aid work and over 80% of expenditure.
Legal help and controlled legal representation
In the latest quarter, legal help new matter starts remained unchanged (covered in table 5.1) compared to the same period of 2021. The volume of completed claims (covered in table 5.2) increased by 6% while expenditure (covered in table 5.3) decreased by 6% in January to March 2022 compared to the same period in 2021 (figure 8).
Overall, the recovery of legal help starts, the volume of completed claims and expenditure has been slow following the impact of covid-19. Although positive, legal help workload and expenditure has not returned to the levels seen pre pandemic. In the current quarter, new matter starts have decreased by 3% from the same period of 2020. The volume of completed claims has fallen by 8% and expenditure decreased by 20% over the same period. The implementation of the LASPO Act in April 2013 resulted in large reductions in legal help workload, with the decline in the overall trend being further exacerbated by the effects of covid-19, workload now sits at less than one-quarter of pre-LASPO levels.
Figure 8a: Completed workload in legal help and controlled legal representation, April to June 2011 to January to March 2022 (see interactive breakdown here)
Figure 8b: Completed workload expenditure in legal help and controlled legal representation, April to June 2011 to January to March 2022 (see interactive breakdown here)
Family legal help
From 1 September 2021, callers to the Civil Legal Advice (CLA) helpline with family issues are no longer referred to specialist telephone advice.
In January to March 2022 family legal help starts (covered in table 5.1) decreased by 25% compared to the same quarter last year. Completed claims (covered in table 5.2) decreased by 3% and expenditure (covered in table 5.3) decreased by 2%. Compared to the same period of 2020 (pre-covid), overall family legal help starts are down by 20%, completed claims have decreased by 11% and expenditure has fallen by 9%. There was a steep decline immediately following the implementation of LASPO Act in April 2013, with a more gradual decline over the last 7 years. Most recently from 1 September 2021, callers to the Civil Legal Advice (CLA) helpline with family issues are no longer referred to the specialist telephone advice service.
Family mediation involves an independent and impartial professionally-accredited mediator discussing problems with a divorcing or separating couple. A Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting (MIAMs) is an initial meeting between one or both parties and a mediator to see if family mediation could be used to reach agreement without using the courts.
MIAMs (covered in table 7.1), Family mediation starts and outcomes (covered along with outcomes in table 7.2) decreased significantly following the initial covid-19 restrictions in March 2020. Since, volumes and expenditure had rapidly increased to levels temporarily exceeding pre-covid figures. However, in the last quarter, MIAMs decreased by 14% compared to the previous year and currently stand at around a third of pre-LASPO levels. Family mediation starts decreased by 27% and total outcomes decreased by 17%, of which 61% were successful agreements, and are now sitting at around half of pre-LASPO levels. The decrease in mediation volumes is due to comparisons against a high workload recovery in January to March 2021 following the initial impact of covid-19. However, compared to the pre-covid January to March 2020 period MIAMS have dropped by
Figure 9: Family mediation assessments, starts and agreements, April to June 2011 to January to March 2022 (see interactive breakdown MAIMS and starts/agreements)
Non-family legal help and controlled legal representation
Controlled legal representation relates to representation at tribunal, but unlike civil representation, the decision on whether to grant legal aid is delegated to providers. Legal help and controlled legal representation make up over 95% of both immigration and mental health legal aid cases.
The LASPO Act 2013 made changes to the scope of legal aid for immigration law, but some areas remained in scope. Workload that remains in the immigration category consists largely of asylum-related work. Having fallen by over 45% between January to March 2020 and April to June 2020, new matter starts (covered in table 5.1) in immigration increased by 26% in January to March 2022 compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Completed claims (covered in table 5.2) in immigration increased by 5% in the latest quarter compared to the previous year and expenditure (covered in table 5.3) increased by 3%. While legal help starts for immigration reflect the comparative 2020 figures, the volume of claims completed and expenditure is yet to return to pre-pandemic levels (down 7% and 22% respectively).
Within mental health, most funding is spent on providing assistance to sectioned clients appealing the terms of their detention before a mental health tribunal. Mental health new matter starts (covered in table 5.1) have remained unchanged when comparing the latest quarter to the previous year. Completed claims (covered in table 5.2) also remained unchanged while expenditure (covered in table 5.3) decreased by 4% over the same period. Compared to the respective pre-pandemic period of early 2020, mental health new matter starts, completed claims and expenditure have fallen (by 4%, 10% and 18% respectively)
Over 80% of legal aid housing work volume is made up of legal help. The volume of legally aided housing work halved between July to September 2012 and July to September 2013. Housing legal help had been particularly affected by covid-19 with starts and completed claims nearly halving again between January to March 2020 and April to June 2020. Recent quarters have displayed a gradual recovery following the impact of covid-19. In January to March 2022, there was a 27% increase in housing work starts (covered in table 5.1) compared to the same quarter the previous year. There were also increases in completed claims (29%) although falls in expenditure (22%). When compared to the same period of 2020, housing legal help starts have increased by 7% while completed claims remains down by 4% and expenditure down by 28%.
Civil representation
The number of civil representation certificates (covered in table 6.2) granted in the last quarter increased by 2% compared to the same period of the previous year. The number of certificates completed (covered in table 6.3) increased by 3%, and the associated expenditure (covered in table 6.5) increased by 15% over the same period (Figures 11a and 11b).
Compared to the same period of 2020 (pre-covid), certificates granted in the last quarter is down by 6%. However, the number of certificates completed has returned to pre-covid levels exceeding January to March 2020 figures by 1% and the associated expenditure has increased substantially by 21% over the same period.
Figure 10a: Completed workload in civil representation, April to June 2011 to January to March 2022 (see interactive breakdown here)
Figure 10b: Completed workload expenditure in civil representation, April to June 2011 to January to March 2022 (see interactive breakdown costs met by LAA and costs met by opponent)
Non-Family Civil Representation
Non-family certificates completed make up 11% of the total civil representation workload and 9% of the expenditure. There are only a small number of immigration and mental health cases in civil representation as most work in these areas consists of controlled legal representation. Housing work represents a large proportion of non-family certificates completed. There has been a gradual decline in housing certificates completed and expenditure since 2014. In the latest period, completed certificates (covered in table 6.3) completed certificates decreased by 23% compared to the same period of the previous year and halved compared to the same period of 2020.
Family civil representation
While civil representation for public family law remains available, the LASPO Act removed legal aid for most private family law including issues such as contact or divorce. However, legal aid remains available for such cases where there is a risk of domestic violence or child abuse. Certificates granted for family work increased by 2% in January to March 2022 compared to the previous year. Certificates completed increased by 3% and associated expenditure has increased by 15% compared to the same quarter the previous year. Compared to the same quarter of 2020, certificates granted and certificates completed has returned to pre-pandemic levels. Closed case expenditure for family civil representation exceeds pre-pandemic levels by 21%. The volume and expenditure for closed case domestic violence civil representation increased following covid-19 and continues to exceed pre-covid levels (55% and 56% higher respectively – compared to January to March 2020).
In January to March 2022, applications for civil representation supported by evidence of domestic violence or child abuse decreased by 10% compared to the same period of the previous year. The number of these granted decreased by 10% over the same period. The proportion of applications granted remained steady at around 70% from the inception of this type of application until the end of 2015, before increasing to around 80%. The provisional figure for the latest quarter is 84%.
Figure 11: Applications received and total certificates granted via the domestic violence and child abuse gateway, April to June 2013 to January to March 2022 (see interactive breakdown applications received and certificates granted)
Judicial reviews
Of all civil representation applications granted, around 3,000 a year relate to judicial review; 603 in the last quarter. The number granted in January to March 2022 decreased by 12% compared with the same quarter in 2021. Over half of judicial reviews were for public law. Judicial review data is available in the detailed csv accompanying this bulletin.
Exceptional Case Funding (ECF)
The Exceptional Case Funding (ECF) scheme was introduced as part of LASPO. An ECF application for civil legal services is made where a case falls outside the scope of civil legal aid but the client or conducting solicitor believes failure to provide funding would be a breach of the Human Rights Act 1998 There were 913 applications (covered along with its current status, details and determination or outcome is provided in table 8.1) for ECF received from January to March 2022. This remained unchanged from the same quarter last year but a 7% decrease from the same period of 2020. 847 (93%) of these were new applications. Of the 913 ECF applications received between January and March 2022, 90% (824) had been determined by the LAA as of 01 June 2022. 76% (629) of these were granted, 14% (116) were refused and 7% (56) rejected (see figure 11).
Figure 12: Volume of ECF applications received, April to June 2014 to January to March 2022 (see interactive breakdown here)
Among the ECF applications received between January and March 2022, immigration (68%), inquest (15%), and family (10%) remained the most requested categories of law. The increase in ECF applications over the last five years is driven by an increase in immigration applications. A breakdown of ECF applications and grants by category of law is provided in table 8.2.
Figure 13: Volume of ECF determinations by outcome, April to June 2015 to January to March 2022 (see interactive breakdown here)
Client Diversity
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In general, the proportions of legal aid work by sex, disability status, ethnicity and age band of the client in 2021-22 are consistent with 2020-21.
A diversity data file and dashboard is published alongside this year-end bulletin. This breaks down legal aid work by the sex, disability status, ethnicity and age band of the client and, for criminal legal aid, the applicant. In this chapter, this data is compared with the national breakdown from the 2011 census data from the Office for National Statistics. More detail on disclosure control, methodology and data quality can be found in the User Guide to legal aid statistics. In general, the diversity of legal aid clients compared to 2020-21 is unchanged. This stability in proportions over time can be seen in Table 11.1.
Sex
The profile of criminal legal aid clients in 2021-22 differs from the population average with a much greater proportion of males in the former (Figure 14). This reflects the picture across the criminal justice system as a whole and is consistent over time. However, the proportion of females varies with the type of work being claimed for. In 2021-22, 14% of magistrates’ court representation work and 16% of police station advice involved females, whereas only 3% of prison law work was for females.
Figure 14: Proportion of legal aid clients by sex, 2021-22
The profile of civil legal aid clients in 2021-22 more closely matches the general population, with some variation by scheme. There is a greater proportion of female clients in civil representation (60%), and a slightly smaller proportion in legal help (41%) and ECF (47%). The proportion of female legal help clients has fallen by 13 percentage points since 2012-13, driven mainly by immigration where the proportion of females has decreased from one third to one quarter. Within the housing possession court duty scheme, clients broadly match the general population. Overall, the proportions of male and female civil representation clients have remained level over the last few years. Within civil representation, the proportion of males in the domestic violence category has fallen from 18% in 2010-11 to 5% in 2021-22.
Disability
It is difficult to draw firm conclusions for most categories of legal aid on this characteristic because of the relatively high proportion of unknowns. Crime Higher has the lowest proportion of unknowns, although no detail about the type of disability is recorded (as with Crime Lower). A higher proportion of legally aided Crown Court defendants have a disability (29%) than the population average (18%). Figures show that a higher proportion of legal help clients have disabilities (30%) than the general population (18%), although this difference is likely to be larger due to the high proportion of unknowns. This may be partly because mental health controlled legal representation work is included within legal help. In 2021-22, almost two thirds of the legal help closed case mental health work claims had the client recorded as having a mental health condition. Mediation while having a comparatively low proportion of unknowns has a lower proportion of clients who are disabled (8%) than the population average.
Ethnicity
It is difficult to draw firm conclusions from some of the ethnicity data because of the high proportion for which ethnicity is unknown in most areas. Nevertheless, the proportion of legal help and ECF clients reporting as Black/Asian/Minority Ethnic (BAME) is much larger than in the general population (Figure 15). This may reflect the fact that controlled legal representation (CLR) for immigration is included within legal help and the majority of ECF grants are for immigration work.
Figure 15: Proportion of legal help and ECF clients by broad ethnic category, 2021-22
The profile of criminal legal aid clients in 2021-22 more closely matches the general population, although the proportion of BAME clients is likely to be larger due to the high proportion of unknowns.
Age
Generally, the age profile of legal aid clients is much less evenly spread than the population average, with a higher proportion of working age clients and a smaller proportion of over 55s. A much greater proportion of criminal legal aid clients are from young adult age groups (aged 18-24 and 25-34) than in the general population. Civil representation has the greatest relative proportion of clients under the age of 18, who make up over one third of certificates completed in 2021-22. Within this, other public law children act proceedings and special children act proceedings both had high proportions of clients under 18; 66% and 47% respectively in 2021-22. The overall age profile of clients in 2021-22 is similar to previous years, although there has been an increase in the proportion of those under 18 in civil representation, up from 16% in 2008-09 to 33% in 2021-22.
Legal aid providers
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Over the last 5 years there has been a fall in the number of provider offices completing legal aid work but in the most recent year there has been a slight increase.
Over the past year both civil work (up 2%) and criminal work (up 1%) provider numbers that have received payment have recovered during the year. Figures for providers starting work during the period reverse this trend with both civil and criminal providers falling 3%.
Legal aid services in England and Wales are delivered through solicitor firms, Not-for-profit organisations, telephone operators and barristers, most of whom are contracted by the LAA to do legal aid work. This chapter presents the number of providers who have completed work and received associated payments from the LAA in any given quarter or financial year. A set of provider data files and dashboard is published alongside this year-end bulletin. A provider may consist of a large firm with several offices around the country or a single office location at which one or more individuals are based. For more information on data sources, quality and usage please see the User guide to legal aid statistics. The timing with which a completed piece of work and the total payment, or expenditure, associated with it are reported are based on the point at which the main final payment for that piece of work was authorised by the LAA, not the timing of cash transactions. Figures for a given period may include the value of work conducted in earlier periods and the expenditure represents the total legal aid fee payments for each item of completed work. These figures are not equivalent to providers’ profits, earnings or take-home pay. Figures are based on the provider office location and not the location of the client. A provider may serve clients from other geographic areas as well as that in which the office is located. As this data reflects only the location of the provider office it cannot be used as a reliable indicator of the distribution of the clients or benefits of legal aid, or to infer a precise picture of coverage of legal aid services.
Volume of providers completing and starting work
Across civil legal aid, the number of provider offices completing work has fallen by 10% over the last 5 years although this trend reversed in the last year with a 2% increase. There was a more gradual downward trend for criminal work, although with the last year there is now a 17% fall in the number of provider offices over the last 5 years, but like civil a 1% increase over the last year. Figures for providers starting work during the period have fallen consistently over the last five year with both civil and criminal providers falling 3% compared to the previous year.
Figure 16a: Number of provider offices completing criminal legal aid work, 2013-14 to 2021-22
Figure 16b: Number of provider offices completing civil legal aid work, 2013-14 to 2021-22
Further information
This publication presents quarterly data trends and those figures published annually, including those on providers of legal aid, diversity, central funds and legal aid in the higher courts.
Our statisticians regularly review the content of publications. Development of new and improved statistical outputs is usually dependent on reallocating existing resources. As part of our continual review and prioritisation, we welcome user feedback on existing outputs including content, breadth, frequency and methodology. Please send any comments you have on this publication including suggestions for further developments or reductions in content.
National Statistics status
National Statistics status means that official statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value. All official statistics should comply with all aspects of the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.
They are awarded National Statistics status following an assessment by the Authority’s regulatory arm. The Authority considers whether the statistics meet the highest standards of Code compliance, including the value they add to public decisions and debate.
It is the Ministry of Justice’s responsibility to maintain compliance with the standards expected for National Statistics. If we become concerned about whether these statistics are still meeting the appropriate standards, we will discuss any concerns with the Authority promptly. National Statistics status can be removed at any point when the highest standards are not maintained, and reinstated when standards are restored.
Contact
Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice press office: Tel: 020 3334 3536 Email: newsdesk@justice.gsi.gov.uk
Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to the Justice Statistics Analytical Services division of the Ministry of Justice:
Carly Gray,
Ministry of Justice
Tel: 07784 275495
Email: statistics@justice.gov.uk
Tables and Data
- A set of ‘Tables’, which give further detail and full time-series for each scheme.
- An ods spreadsheet download for all ‘Tables’, which provide full time-series for each scheme.
- Main data and Civil detailed data: Detailed files to enable independent analysis, provided in .csv (Comma delimited) format.
- Diversity data and Provider data: Client characterstics data and Providers starts and completions by area and legal aid schemes
Help
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User Guide to legal aid statistics: This provides comprehensive information about data sources as well as key legislative changes.
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Index of data in Legal aid statistics: A guide to the data published in the .ods files, lists of available data from Legal Aid systems and guidance on how to work with the data.
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Quality Statement: This provides detail on how legal aid statistics meet user needs
Web tool
- Data visualisation tool A web-based tool allowing the user to view and customize charts and tables based on the published statistics.
Next update: 29 September 2022
URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/legal-aid-statistics
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Alternative formats are available on request from statistics.enquiries@justice.gov.uk