The National Audit Office (NAO), which scrutinises performance of government departments, reported a 17 per cent shortfall in the predicted number of civil legal aid matters approved in 2013/14. Among its most damning findings is that, despite a policy of encouraging more mediation in family disputes, the number of mediations had fallen by 56 per cent following the cuts to legal aid.

According to the NAO report, these shortfalls mean that the government has exceeded its target savings for civil legal aid by £32m. LAG has previously highlighted the issue of the reduction in the expected number of legal aid cases (see Civil legal aid: the secret legal service).

The NAO is concerned at the increase in unrepresented litigants in the family courts system and the potential for this to increase costs elsewhere. It also expresses fears about the costs to the wider public sector if civil legal problems are not resolved, leading people to ‘suffer adverse consequences to their health and wellbeing as a result of no longer having access to legal aid’.

Lord Low, who chaired the Low Commission into future provision of social welfare law services, endorsed the NAO finding that ‘the government’s civil legal aid reforms are having unintended consequences.’ However, he also criticised the NAO report for not emphasising the importance of spending available money on prevention. ‘The key weakness of the government’s reforms all along is that they have massively reduced the capacity of legal advice and support services to intervene early, and this is where the false economy lies.’

LAG is calling for some of the £32m saved to be directed into providing legal advice in the family courts, such as by a duty pilot scheme. ‘They could also use some of this cash to get the advice and legal support fund for social welfare law services suggested by the Low Commission off the ground,’ said LAG’s director, Steve Hynes.

■ Implementing reforms to civil legal aid, NAO, November 2014.