Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of legal aid provision in cases relating to disputes in the benefits system.

This Government inherited a legal aid system facing significant challenges. The Ministry of Justice has recently undertaken a lengthy, evidence-based, and wholesale review of the operation of civil legal aid across all eleven categories of civil legal aid, including welfare benefits, known as the Review of Civil Legal Aid (RoCLA). The Lord Chancellor will consider the provision of welfare benefits legal aid services, together with the overall provision of civil legal services, in light of the evidence that has been obtained through RoCLA and the Legal Aid Agency’s own engagement with providers.

Under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, legal aid is in scope, subject to means and merits tests, for advice concerning welfare benefits-related appeals on a point of law in the Upper Tribunal, Court of Appeal or Supreme Court, and appeals on a point of law regarding a council tax reduction scheme in the High Court, Court of Appeal or Supreme Court. Where an issue falls outside the scope of legal aid, individuals can apply for Exceptional Case Funding (ECF), where there is a risk that their human rights may be breached. ECF applications are determined by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) on an individual basis and are subject to a means and merits test.

There are currently 27 providers who offer legal aid services in relation to the Welfare Benefits category of legal aid operating out of 31 offices across England and Wales. The LAA monitors supply across its legal aid contracts on an ongoing basis and, where additional supply is needed, takes action within its operational powers to secure additional provision to ensure the continuity of legal aid-funded services.