Legal aid statistics quarterly: April to June 2020
Activity in the legal aid system for England and Wales, including criminal and civil legal aid and family mediation.
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The quarterly legal aid statistics bulletin presents statistics on the legal aid scheme administered by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) for England and Wales. This edition comprises the first release of statistics for the three month period from April to June 2020 and also provides the latest statement of figures for all earlier periods. This edition also includes figures provisional figures for July 2020 based on management information are included in the bulletin. These statistics are derived from data held by LAA, produced and published by Legal Aid Statistics team of the Ministry of Justice (MOJ).
Statistician’s Comment
This publication shows that workload and expenditure has fallen this quarter, due to COVID-19, across almost all legal aid schemes.
Criminal legal aid figures show large decreases compared to the same quarter last year in schemes that support the court system including the magistrates’ and Crown Court. There are falls in police station work and the prison law scheme, but these are smaller than those requiring court hearings. Within prison law, parole board work has remained stable compared to the previous year.
Civil legal aid figures show a decrease in workload and expenditure across all schemes compared to the same quarter last year. The largest decreases in legal help and civil representation were in non-family work. Family work also fell across both schemes except for domestic violence, which saw an increase in the latest period. There were falls in both mediation and Exceptional Case Funding.
Section 6 presents provisional figures for July 2020 based on management information. July 2020 figures begin to show a recovery from the impact of COVID-19 in criminal legal aid, with court representation applications up by around a third in the Crown Courts and around a half in magistrates’ courts compared to the average of the previous quarter. The picture is mixed for civil legal aid, with increases in legal help and civil representation, but a decrease in family mediation. It is expected that criminal and civil legal aid volumes will return to, and may temporarily exceed, historic trend levels.
Pre-release
Pre-release access of up to 24 hours is granted to the following persons:
Ministry of Justice
Secretary of State for Justice, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Courts and Legal Aid, Permanent Secretary, Director of Policy Communications and Analysis Group, Director of Data and Analysis, Deputy Director Legal Aid Policy, Chief Statistician, Private Secretary Permanent Secretary Office, Special Advisor Inbox, Legal Aid Policy Officials (7), Press Officers (2), Private secretaries (5), Head of Legal Aid Analysis
Legal Aid Agency
Chief Executive, Chief Executive’s Office, Head of Financial Forecasting, Head of External Communications, Senior External Communications Manager, Director of Finance Business Partnering, Service Development Managers (3)