Legal Aid Scheme

(asked on 30th November 2018) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people received legal aid for (a) divorce, (b) child custody, (c) clinical negligence, (d) welfare, (e) employment, (f) immigration, (h) housing, (i) debt, (j) benefit and (k) education cases in each year since 2010.


Answered by
Lucy Frazer Portrait
Lucy Frazer
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
This question was answered on 19th December 2018

The Ministry of Justice publishes statistics on behalf of the Legal Aid Agency at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/748562/legal-aid-statistics-tables-apr-jun-2018.ods, which show the number of matters completed each financial year, broken down by category of law. Please note that this data is not necessarily reflective of how many people have received legal aid in this time, as one person may be granted legal aid on more than one occasion.

‘Divorce’ is not a separately-recorded type of case and therefore this information has been prepared as below. Please note that for Civil Representation these figures to legal aid awarded in that financial year, whereas for Legal Help this relates to when that matter was billed:

Financial Year

Civil Representation grants

Legal Help claims

2010-11

8,053

90,436

2011-12

5,502

83,350

2012-13

5,131

72,037

2013-14

3,212

56,791

2014-15

368

22,600

2015-16

284

8,871

2016-17

55

5,573

2017-18

16

4,307

197619: Procurement area boundaries are defined by the Legal Aid Agency according to their respective categories of law, and the relevant factors which are taken into account in respect of these. The different types of procurement area relate to the following categories: Family, Clinical Negligence, Welfare Benefits, Housing and Debt, and Immigration. Discrimination, education and employment advice is provided via the telephone service through the Civil Legal Advice scheme.

All types of procurement area have at least two providers undertaking work in their respective categories, save for Housing and Debt, where nine procurement areas do not have a provider contracted for Housing and Debt services, and thirty four procurement areas have one provider offering such services.

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