Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to ensure equitable access to legal aid.

We are currently carrying out a review of the means test for legal aid. The review, which we plan to publish shortly, is assessing the effectiveness with which the means test protects access to justice, including the income and capital thresholds for civil and criminal legal aid.

We have already made some changes to improve access to legal aid. In December 2020, we removed the £100k cap on the amount of mortgage debt which can be taken into account in the civil means test and expanded the list of compensation/ex-gratia payments which can be disregarded from an applicant’s means. As of January 2022, we have removed the means test for applications for legal representation at inquests via the Exceptional Case Funding scheme.