Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many legal aid applications for exceptional funding in relation to immigration matters were refused on means grounds in each of the last four years; and of those decisions how many were subsequently overturned.

We believe that the exceptional case funding (ECF) scheme is functioning as intended. Its purpose is to provide funding where it is legally needed. Every ECF application is carefully considered by the Legal Aid Agency on an individual basis.

The volume of ECF applications refused on means grounds since April 2013, by financial year, is provided in the table below.

Of these 24 applications, none of the refusal decisions were subsequently overturned. We have here used the definition of an “overturned decision” to be where a solicitor has set out that the original ECF means assessment was incorrect, as opposed to where further means information later in time led to a subsequent application being granted for the same individual for immigration proceedings.