Law Society review of Legal Aid

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22 October, 2021

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Gill Carr
Partner

The Law Society has recently puplished a review on Legal Aid. Worryingly the number of providers of civil legal aid has reduced in the last ten years. Even more worrying is that only 25% of the population are now eligible for legal aid.

More people than ever before are representing themselves in the family courts. The number of cases where neither party had a legal representative has almost trebled increasing from a previous 13% to 36%.

The Law Society have made recommendations to the government which have been published by Resolution.

Those recommendations include:

  • reviewing the process for solicitor firms to gain entry to the civil legal aid market
  • review the fees paid for various types of work
  • produce and maintain an evidence base to show the scale of legal needs of those eligible for civil legal aid; amongst other areas.

It is understood that the Ministry of Justice and the Legal Aid Agency are to work with each other's government departments. This is in the hope that they will share an understanding on the full impact on public sector costs associated with changes to the civil legal aid system.

The statistics are concerning however the reviews and recommendations should, if followed, lead to improvements.

Here at Forbes Solicitors, our family law department offers legal aid funding. It is available for those that are eligible, and we can assist in resolving matters, that meet the legal aid criteria.

For more information contact Gill Carr in our Family/Divorce department via email or phone on 01254 580 000. Alternatively send any question through to Forbes Solicitors via our online Contact Form.

Learn more about our Family/Divorce department here

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