Employment Tribunal Service: Legal Aid Scheme

(asked on 13th December 2024) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to improve access to Legal Aid for discrimination claims in the Employment Tribunal.


Answered by
Sarah Sackman Portrait
Sarah Sackman
Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This question was answered on 18th December 2024

Legal aid is available for legal advice and assistance in relation to discrimination cases which fall under the Equality Act 2010 or previous discrimination legislation, subject to passing the means and merits tests. Legal aid for other employment matters may be available through the Exceptional Case Funding (ECF) Scheme, if a failure to provide legal aid would breach, or likely risk a breach of, an individual’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Ministry of Justice has recently undertaken a comprehensive review of civil legal aid and, having considered the evidence collected, we acknowledge that the sector is facing a number of challenges. We are committed to improving the experience of users and providers and, as an important first step towards this, we intend to consult on uplifts to housing and immigration legal aid fees in January 2025. We will continue to consider the fees paid in other categories of civil legal aid, including as part of the second phase of the Government’s Spending Review.

The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) is responsible for commissioning legal aid services in England and Wales. There are currently 20 providers who offer legal aid services in relation to the Discrimination category of legal aid operating out of 24 offices across England and Wales. The LAA monitors supply across its legal aid contracts on an ongoing basis. Where additional supply is needed it takes action within its operational remit to ensure access to legal aid-funded services.

The LAA also maintains the Civil Legal Advice (CLA) Helpline. This is a national telephone helpline that helps members of the public check whether they may be eligible for civil legal aid and triages them to appropriate sources of advice. The CLA Helpline provides specialist remote advice though legal aid in four categories of law, including discrimination, for any individual that is determined to be eligible for these services. The majority of advice and assistance cases in the discrimination category are currently delivered by the CLA service.

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