On 10 January 2024, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) issued a call for evidence for the Review of Civil Legal Aid. It is ‘especially, but not exclusively’ interested in hearing from civil legal aid practitioners, those who have received legal aid, representative bodies and charities. Academics who have conducted relevant research are also invited to respond. The call asks some overarching questions as well as focusing on fees, career development and diversity, user needs, use of technology, and early resolution. Responses should be made by 11.59 pm on 21 February 2024.

Meanwhile, on 19 January 2024, the MoJ published Survey of civil legal aid providers in England and Wales: informing the Review of Civil Legal Aid. As part of the review’s economic analysis workstream (the others being international comparators, a series of data publications, and ‘user journey social research’), PA Consulting was commissioned to run a survey in September 2023 with four main aims:

A total of 228 organisations completed the survey adequately, reflecting 18 per cent of the total provider population. Eighty per cent of those participants said that demand for their civil legal aid services was above a standard level, with 50 per cent saying demand was very high. Satisfaction with the sector was poor: 59 per cent of participants reported dissatisfaction. The areas that elicited the highest levels of dissatisfaction were the fee system (82 per cent), ability to build a good-quality workforce (61 per cent) and Legal Aid Authority decision-making (59 per cent).

The majority of private practices reported not making a profit from civil legal aid (55 per cent), split between 33 per cent saying the service was loss-making and 22 per cent breaking even. Not-for-profit providers reported that they relied heavily on charitable donations for revenue (41 per cent)
with only 30 per cent of their revenue coming from direct provision of civil
legal aid services.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, high-priority ‘pain points’ for participants were low fees, having to spend time on matters for which they could not bill, the rigidity of the fees system, admin around getting paid, difficulty in attracting junior lawyers, and the time needed to manage service-users. Notably, 60 per cent of participants reported that high levels of frustration around attracting junior lawyers into the profession were likely to prevent them continuing to provide services, exacerbated by concerns about established lawyers reaching retirement age unable to pass their knowledge to a new generation of civil legal aid lawyers.

Alarmingly, 40 per cent of providers said they would leave the civil legal aid sector or decrease the volume of provision over the next year. In the longer term, 40 per cent said they would actively leave the sector in the next five years.

The review is currently due to publish all of its reports by the end of March 2024.