Legal Aid Scheme
(asked on 20th September 2021) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many legal aid (a) providers and (b) offices were practising in cases of (a) claims against public authorities, (b) community care, (c) discrimination, (d) education, (e) housing and debt, (f) immigration and asylum, (g) family law, (h) clinical negligence, (i) mental health, (j) public law, (k) welfare benefits in each year from September 2012 to September 2021.
The Legal Aid Agency frequently reviews market capacity to make sure there is adequate provision around the country and moves quickly to ensure provision where gaps may appear.
Operational system data on the volume of providers holding legal aid contracts at any given time is subject to change due to the internal management and updating of contract schedules, which may impact both real time and historic data.
Civil legal aid providers (firms) and offices in each year, broken down by category of law enquired about, from 2012 to most recent quarter:
Volume of Providers (firms) | ||||||||||||
Category of Law | Apr-12 | Sep-12 | Apr-13 | Apr-14 | Apr-15 | Apr-16 | Apr-17 | Apr-18 | Apr-19 | Apr-20 | Apr-21 | Sep-21 |
Claims Against the Public Authorities | 63 | 62 | 58 | 54 | 53 | 65 | 65 | 64 | 80 | 74 | 71 | 70 |
Community Care | 85 | 84 | 83 | 71 | 91 | 87 | 81 | 76 | 94 | 88 | 83 | 82 |
Discrimination | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 18 | 17 |
Education | 24 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 13 | 10 |
Housing and Debt | 346 | 332 | 368 | 345 | 323 | 305 | 286 | 254 | 295 | 265 | 245 | 238 |
Immigration Asylum | 197 | 194 | 239 | 226 | 199 | 182 | 166 | 141 | 203 | 189 | 176 | 172 |
Immigration Other* | 198 | 195 |
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Family | 1,557 | 1,507 | 1,352 | 1,269 | 1,211 | 1,160 | 1,090 | 1,003 | 1,029 | 992 | 959 | 937 |
Clinical Negligence | 169 | 166 | 166 | 156 | 142 | 107 | 106 | 100 | 100 | 99 | 95 | 93 |
Mental Health | 172 | 171 | 168 | 160 | 176 | 169 | 158 | 147 | 156 | 147 | 135 | 135 |
Public Law | 87 | 85 | 83 | 79 | 74 | 92 | 89 | 84 | 110 | 99 | 95 | 95 |
Welfare Benefits | 286 | 274 | 0 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 14 | 52 | 41 | 38 | 36 |
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Volume of Offices | ||||||||||||
Category of Law | Apr-12 | Sep-12 | Apr-13 | Apr-14 | Apr-15 | Apr-16 | Apr-17 | Apr-18 | Apr-19 | Apr-20 | Apr-21 | Sep-21 |
Claims Against the Public Authorities | 83 | 82 | 79 | 74 | 72 | 80 | 80 | 78 | 119 | 112 | 104 | 101 |
Community Care | 140 | 139 | 131 | 115 | 163 | 142 | 136 | 124 | 146 | 137 | 129 | 127 |
Discrimination | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 22 | 21 |
Education | 28 | 27 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 22 | 19 |
Housing and Debt | 537 | 524 | 710 | 652 | 606 | 560 | 525 | 475 | 480 | 436 | 407 | 397 |
Immigration Asylum | 228 | 224 | 405 | 376 | 323 | 285 | 262 | 229 | 303 | 281 | 263 | 257 |
Immigration Other* | 229 | 225 |
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Family | 2,328 | 2,273 | 2,254 | 2,134 | 2,001 | 1,890 | 1,732 | 1,616 | 1,713 | 1,654 | 1,575 | 1,537 |
Clinical Negligence | 291 | 285 | 285 | 267 | 248 | 196 | 191 | 180 | 175 | 170 | 164 | 159 |
Mental Health | 193 | 192 | 189 | 179 | 200 | 189 | 173 | 161 | 181 | 172 | 159 | 157 |
Public Law | 111 | 108 | 107 | 101 | 95 | 111 | 108 | 102 | 155 | 141 | 130 | 130 |
Welfare Benefits | 364 | 353 | 0 | 13 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 13 | 50 | 39 | 36 | 34 |
*ceased as separate category