Simon Pugh and Vicky Ling (pictured), co-authors of LAG’s Legal Aid Handbook, welcomed the move, saying that the manual was of ‘limited value and won't be missed’. Ling believes that while everything in the manual is available free somewhere on the internet, the problem is that the information is difficult to find, and the LAA should have ‘provided a comprehensive list of everything you need before discontinuing the manual’.

Pugh commented that the manual’s ‘withdrawal shows that the LAA has given up even trying to help practitioners make sense of what has become an appallingly and unnecessarily complex scheme. And that is deeply regrettable.’