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Housing and crime cases see biggest fall
The latest figures released by the Ministry of Justice suggest that the effects of the cuts introduced by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 are still being felt, as the number of legal aid cases continues to fall.
Figures for July-September 2014 show that there was an overall 4 per cent reduction in civil legal aid cases. In non-family work, the biggest fall came in housing cases, which were 9 per cent down between July-September 2014, compared with the same quarter the previous year.
Responding to the figures, the MoJ said it believes the drop has now stabilised, after the scope cuts introduced by LASPO in April 2013.
Compared with the same quarter in 2013, the decrease in the number of criminal legal aid cases in the higher courts continued, and there was a 6 per cent fall in magistrates’ court cases.
The largest reduction in criminal legal aid was for prison law cases – which were largely removed from scope in December 2013 – down 42 per cent on the comparable quarter.
A total of 300 applications for exceptional funding were made in July-September 2014. This was a 36 per cent reduction, compared with the same period in 2013. A total of 44 applications were granted, of which 24 were for inquest cases.