Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many civil legal aid practitioners were providing civil legal aid involving (a) claims against public authorities, (b) community care, (c) discrimination, (d) education (e) immigration and asylum, (f) family, (g) clinical negligence, (h) mental health, (i) public law and (j) welfare benefits in each year from 2012-13 to 2020-21 and for the last quarter for which figures are available.
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.
Criminal legal aid providers (firms) and offices in each year, from 2012 to most recent quarter:
Year | Apr-12 | Apr-13 | Apr-14 | Apr-15 | Apr-16 | Apr-17 | Apr-18 | Apr-19 | Apr-20 | Apr-21 | Sep-21 |
Providers | 1,652 | 1,595 | 1,513 | 1,425 | 1,386 | 1,310 | 1,266 | 1,194 | 1,154 | 1,090 | 1,080 |
Offices | 2,318 | 2,258 | 2,142 | 2,040 | 1,969 | 1,981 | 1,913 | 1,802 | 1,717 | 1,589 | 1,565 |
Civil legal aid providers (firms) and offices in each year, from 2012 to most recent quarter:
Year | Apr-12 | Apr-13 | Apr-14 | Apr-15 | Apr-16 | Apr-17 | Apr-18 | Apr-19 | Apr-20 | Apr-21 | Sep-21 |
Providers | 2,129 | 1,811 | 1,700 | 1,785 | 1,697 | 1,601 | 1,448 | 1,560 | 1,497 | 1,435 | 1,401 |
Offices | 3,242 | 3,133 | 2,944 | 2,931 | 2,769 | 2,609 | 2,369 | 2,536 | 2,439 | 2,316 | 2,258 |
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 | 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 | 58 | 54 | 53 | 65 | 65 | 64 | 80 | 74 | 71 | 70 |
Community Care | 85 | 83 | 71 | 91 | 87 | 81 | 76 | 94 | 88 | 83 | 82 |
Discrimination | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 18 | 17 |
Education | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 13 | 10 |
Immigration Asylum | 197 | 239 | 226 | 199 | 182 | 166 | 141 | 203 | 189 | 176 | 172 |
Immigration Other* | 198 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Family | 1,557 | 1,352 | 1,269 | 1,211 | 1,160 | 1,090 | 1,003 | 1,029 | 992 | 959 | 937 |
Clinical Negligence | 169 | 166 | 156 | 142 | 107 | 106 | 100 | 100 | 99 | 95 | 93 |
Mental Health | 172 | 168 | 160 | 176 | 169 | 158 | 147 | 156 | 147 | 135 | 135 |
Public Law | 87 | 83 | 79 | 74 | 92 | 89 | 84 | 110 | 99 | 95 | 95 |
Welfare Benefits | 286 | 0 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 14 | 52 | 41 | 38 | 36 |
Volume of Offices | |||||||||||
Category of Law | Apr-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 | 79 | 74 | 72 | 80 | 80 | 78 | 119 | 112 | 104 | 101 |
Community Care | 140 | 131 | 115 | 163 | 142 | 136 | 124 | 146 | 137 | 129 | 127 |
Discrimination | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 22 | 21 |
Education | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 22 | 19 |
Immigration Asylum | 228 | 405 | 376 | 323 | 285 | 262 | 229 | 303 | 281 | 263 | 257 |
Immigration Other* | 229 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Family | 2,328 | 2,254 | 2,134 | 2,001 | 1,890 | 1,732 | 1,616 | 1,713 | 1,654 | 1,575 | 1,537 |
Clinical Negligence | 291 | 285 | 267 | 248 | 196 | 191 | 180 | 175 | 170 | 164 | 159 |
Mental Health | 193 | 189 | 179 | 200 | 189 | 173 | 161 | 181 | 172 | 159 | 157 |
Public Law | 111 | 107 | 101 | 95 | 111 | 108 | 102 | 155 | 141 | 130 | 130 |
Welfare Benefits | 364 | 0 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 17 | 15 | 71 | 56 | 52 | 50 |
*ceased as individual/separate category