Legal Aid Scheme

(asked on 4th May 2020) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications have been made for legal aid to the Legal Aid Agency in each of the last 12 months; and what proportion of those applications were successful.


Answered by
Alex Chalk Portrait
Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
This question was answered on 13th May 2020

Applications for civil legal aid, January – December 2019

Month

Applications volumes

Applications successful

Proportion successful (%)

Jan-2019

9,710

9,011

93%

Feb-2019

9,441

8,736

93%

Mar-2019

10,573

9,822

93%

Apr-2019

9,919

9,185

93%

May-2019

10,577

9,807

93%

Jun-2019

9,652

8,994

93%

Jul-2019

11,337

10,548

93%

Aug-2019

9,861

9,181

93%

Sep-2019

9,762

9,079

93%

Oct-2019

11,341

10,523

93%

Nov-2019

10,262

9,518

93%

Dec-2019

8,615

8,033

93%

Applications for criminal legal aid, January – December 2019

Month

Volume of applications

Volume granted

Proportion successful (%)

Jan

28,209

27,174

96%

Feb

24,337

23,450

96%

Mar

26,075

25,215

97%

Apr

24,309

23,511

97%

May

26,705

25,765

96%

Jun

24,147

23,306

97%

Jul

27,035

26,188

97%

Aug

23,920

23,191

97%

Sep

23,633

22,901

97%

Oct

26,325

25,556

97%

Nov

23,923

23,153

97%

Dec

20,781

20,119

97%

Note: some applications classed as ‘unsuccessful’ may have been rejected for administrative reasons, as opposed to being refused for not meeting relevant eligibility criteria. An application may be refused due to a lack of merit in the case and/or the applicant not qualifying for public funding financially.

Identification and recovery of overpayments to providers, January – December 2019:

No. of Payment Errors

% of overall claims where error found

No. of Recoveries

% of errors where recovery made

% of £ paid in error recovered

Jan-19

1,631

1.37%

1611

98.77%

99.72%

Feb-19

1,263

1.00%

1244

98.50%

99.64%

Mar-19

1,307

1.02%

1291

98.78%

99.69%

Apr-19

1,186

0.82%

1167

98.40%

98.62%

May-19

737

0.49%

721

97.83%

98.52%

Jun-19

1,077

0.74%

1059

98.33%

99.21%

Jul-19

748

0.50%

733

97.99%

99.57%

Aug-19

574

0.39%

553

96.34%

99.59%

Sep-19

1047

0.75%

1026

97.99%

99.20%

Oct-19

1,539

1.02%

1519

98.70%

99.83%

Nov-19

845

0.56%

818

96.80%

99.42%

Dec-19

993

0.72%

977

98.39%

99.63%

These figures refer to errors concerning either the submission or assessment of claims.

A list of all legal aid providers holding a contract to deliver services can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/directory-of-legal-aid-providers. This can be filtered to show those providers holding a criminal legal aid contract only.

Whilst we hold robust data for individual self-employed advocates, they are generally paid directly by the Legal Aid Agency via their own individual legal aid account number, rather than via any chambers they may be tenanted at. Self-employed advocates also receive their instructions from the contract-holding solicitor with conduct of the matter, rather than via a contract with the Legal Aid Agency.

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