Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the (a) annual saving to the Legal Aid fund of removing passporting through the means test for those earning more than £500 per month who are in receipt of Universal Credit and (b) additional annual cost to the Legal Aid fund of passporting homeowners in receipt of Universal Credit through the capital assessment part of the means test.

The new legal aid means test will comprise a wide range of closely inter-related policy elements to be delivered simultaneously. This includes introducing a £500 monthly earnings threshold for UC recipients who are currently passported through the income assessment for civil legal aid, as well as limiting the passporting of UC recipients through the civil legal aid capital assessment solely to those who are non-home owners. Taking all these policy elements into account, will lead to additional spending in steady state for civil legal aid of up to £24 million per year. Whilst not all policy elements apply equally to the criminal legal aid scheme, the comparable impact on annual steady state spending for criminal legal aid rises up to £5 million. These ranges assume that all recipients of legacy welfare benefits have been transitioned onto UC. Legal Aid Means Test Review - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)