The National Audit Office (NAO) published Government’s management of legal aid: Ministry of Justice, Legal Aid Agency (HC 514) on 9 February 2024, in which it highlighted the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ’s) lack of understanding about the costs and benefits of changes introduced by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO). Noting that the MoJ ‘still does not know the full costs and benefits of LASPO as it has not made progress in understanding how the reforms may have affected costs in other parts of the criminal justice system and wider public sector’ (para 7, page 6), the report also points out that take-up of publicly funded mediation referrals has been poor, especially in family law, in which ‘referrals to mediation have reduced significantly since LASPO … because the reforms withdrew most funding for solicitor consultations which were the most common source of mediation referrals’ (para 8, page 7).

Furthermore, the NAO reports that the MoJ ‘does not collect sufficient data to understand whether those who are entitled to legal aid are able to access it’ (para 9, page 7), calling this ‘concerning’ (para 18, page 11). It notes that available evidence suggests that the limited provision in some areas could be making it harder to access legal aid, with a smaller proportion of the population being within 10 km of an office in most civil law categories.

Sustainability of the market is also raised, with the NAO stating that the MoJ ‘has been slow to respond to market sustainability issues’ (para 13, page 9). The report notes that the Legal Aid Agency lacks routine financial and other data (for example, on profitability of legal aid work for providers) that it could use to raise sustainability issues early. It calls the reactive approach to market sustainability issues ‘concerning’, stressing that the MoJ ‘must take a more proactive approach and routinely seek early identification of emerging market sustainability issues, to ensure legal aid is available to all those who are eligible’ (para 18, page 11).