The government has announced an additional £340 million in funding for legal aid over the next three years, an investment that the Justice Secretary said was essential to keep cases moving through the courts and to reduce the delays that have left victims waiting years for justice.
The funding will be directed primarily at criminal legal aid, which has been described by the Law Society as being in a state of "advanced crisis" after years of real-terms cuts that have driven solicitors and barristers out of the profession and created shortages of lawyers willing to take on legally aided work in many parts of the country.
The investment is significant but falls short of the £500 million that the independent review of legal aid, published last year, recommended as the minimum required to restore the system to sustainability. The review found that legal aid fees had fallen by approximately 40 percent in real terms since 2005 and that the system was no longer capable of delivering the access to justice that the public had a right to expect.
The Justice Secretary acknowledged that the funding was not sufficient to address all of the system's problems but said it represented a "down payment" on a longer-term programme of reform that would include a review of the legal aid means test, increased use of technology to reduce costs, and measures to improve the diversity of the legal profession.
The Law Society and the Bar Council have welcomed the additional funding but have made clear that they regard it as a first step rather than a solution. The criminal justice system, they argue, has been systematically underfunded for two decades, and reversing that damage will require sustained investment over a period of years, not a single funding announcement.
Join in — free. Comments on Daily Junction are for members, so real names stay rare and bots stay out.
One field. We email you a 6-digit code — no password needed. Your comment is kept while you do it.
Under 13? You’ll need a parent’s OK first — it takes them one click.