Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to support legal professionals reliant on legal aid fees.

This Government is committed to ensuring the long-term sustainability of both the civil and criminal legal aid sectors and we are keen to work closely with practitioners and their representative bodies to look at how best we can address this.

Regarding criminal legal aid, in November 2024 we announced our response to the Crime Lower consultation. We confirmed an uplift to the lowest police station fees, introduced a new Youth Court fee scheme, and subsidised for travel time in certain circumstances. Together, these changes amount to a £24 million investment for criminal legal aid providers.

In addition, in December 2024, we announced that criminal legal aid solicitors will receive up to £92 million more a year to help address the ongoing challenges in the criminal justice system. The precise allocation of this funding is subject to consultation. We are committed to continuing to work with the criminal legal aid profession on further opportunities for reform this Parliament and to support the overall sustainability, diversity, and efficiency of the system.

In respect of civil legal aid, the Ministry of Justice has recently undertaken a comprehensive review of civil legal aid and concluded a consultation on uplifts to housing & debt and immigration & asylum legal aid fees, which will inject an additional £20 million into the sector each year once fully implemented. We are currently reviewing consultation responses and will publish our response. We will continue to consider the fees paid in other categories of civil legal aid, and the wider themes from the Review, in order to support the long-term sustainability of the civil legal aid sector.