Legal aid statistics England and Wales bulletin Jul to Sep 2017
Source: data.gov.uk (2018-05-25)

Legal Aid Statistics. This dataset provides quarterly aggregated data on overall volume and claim expenditure on the legal aid schemes administered by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) for England and Wales. The reports include statistics on Criminal legal aid covering Police stations, magistrates' courts, Prison Law and the Crown Courts alongside Civil Legal Aid covering Legal Help, family mediation, Civil Representation and exceptional case funding). On an annual cycle further datasets released include Client and provider characteristics, Criminal central funds and higher courts, Appeals and Provider based volume and expenditure figures with geography. All datasets are designed to monitor the workload and expenditure of the legal aid system with further more detailed available than provided in accompanying tables.

Published 14 December 2017 
Legal Aid Statistics quarterly, England and Wales, 
July to September 2017 
Main points 
Crime lower workload
down 4% compared to the 
same quarter last year
 
This continues the gradual downward trend of recent 
years. Expenditure on completed work was also  
down by 4%.  
Crown Court completed 
workload down 6%
compared to the same 
quarter last year 
 
Expenditure on completed work fell by 2% over this 
period, and new orders for legal representation in the 
Crown Court continued to decline.   
4% fewer legal help new 
matter starts than in the 
same period of 2016
 
The volume of completed claims also decreased, by 
10%, and expenditure fell by 6%. 
Family mediation starts 
were 14% lower than in 
the same quarter of 2016
 
Mediation Information and Assessment Meetings 
(MIAMS) and mediation outcomes also fell over this 
period. 
17% more certificates 
completed for public 
family law than in the 
same quarter last year
 
 
Expenditure on completed work in this category, which 
already accounts for more than half the total cost of civil 
legal aid, rose by 11% (£12m). 
638 applications for 
Exceptional Case 
Funding received in the 
last quarter
 
This is the highest number of applications received in 
one quarter since the scheme began in April 2013 and a 
33% increase from the same quarter last year.   
 
 
This edition comprises the first release of official statistics for the three-month period from 
July to September 2017 and the latest statement of all figures for previous periods. For 
more detailed commentary, and statistics on providers of legal aid, Central Funds, 
appealing legal aid decisions and legal aid in the higher courts, please refer to the annual 
publication.  
For technical detail, please refer to the User guide to legal aid statistics. 
 
 
We have changed how our quarterly bulletins look, and would welcome any 
feedback using this quick survey. 
For other feedback related to the content of this publication, please let us know at 
xxx@xxx.xx   

 
2 
 
Things you need to know  
These symbols are used throughout this release to navigate to other documents of interest:  
 
 
 
 
To understand trends in legal aid as a whole, it is best to begin by looking at annual 
expenditure figures and then look at trends in both workload and expenditure for each 
category of legal aid. Summarising activity across the legal aid system meaningfully within a 
single number is difficult because of the diversity of services included, from quicker, lower-
cost provision like pre-charge advice to representation in a complex, high-cost court case.  
Expenditure on legal aid is measured differently for different purposes. A measure that is 
best for analysing the costs of different services, for example, may not be practical for 
managing budgets or payments. The three most often-used measures, shown in Fig. 1, are: 
• 
Closed-case expenditure is the measure used for expenditure figures throughout these 
legal aid statistics. It represents the total value of payments made to legal aid providers 
in relation to pieces of work that are completed in the period. This basis is comparable 
to volumes of completed work to which it relates, and to the same fine level of detail. 
This does not include income received or expenditure in relation to debt write-offs. 
• 
The government budgeting measure known as RDEL (Resource Departmental 
Expenditure Limits) is the main measure used by government to control current 
spending, both to set budgets for future years and report on how much has been spent. 
It represents the value of work carried out in the period better than the closed-case 
measure but cannot be broken down to such a fine level of detail. This measure does 
incorporate income and expenditure in relation to debt. 
• 
Figure 1 shows this budgeting measure both in nominal and real terms. ‘Nominal 
terms’ means not adjusted for inflation; 'real terms' means adjusted for inflation to make 
the value of spending in previous years directly comparable with the specified year.  
These measures show a large reduction in legal aid expenditure from around 2010-11, 
which are mostly due to changes to the scope of civil legal aid introduced by the Legal Aid, 
Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act from 2013-14, reductions in criminal 
legal aid workloads and reductions in fees payable to legal aid providers. 
Figure 1: Overall annual legal aid expenditure, by closed-case and RDEL (nominal 
and real-terms) measures (£m), 2005-06 to 2016-17
 
Data visualisation: 
Click for tool allowing 
user-defined charts 
and tables. 
User Guide: 
Click for document 
giving definitions 
and explanations.  
Tables: 
Click for access 
to tables of 
figures. 
Table  
1.0 

 
3 
 
1. Criminal legal aid 
Main point 
 
 
Workload and expenditure fell in most areas of criminal legal aid between July and 
September 2017 and the same period of the previous year.   
 
Criminal legal aid can be categorised into Crime Lower and Crime Higher. Crime Lower 
includes police station advice, magistrates’ court and prison law. Crime Higher covers work 
in the Crown and Higher Courts. 
 
Figure 2: Crime overview, closed case volumes and expenditure for Jul-Sep 2017, and 
comparison with Jul-Sep 2016 
 
*includes court duty solicitor sessions and virtual courts 
Figure 3: Workload and expenditure in criminal legal aid, Jul-Sep 14 to Jul-Sep 17 
 
Note: Advice and assistance on appeals and civil work associated with crime are excluded from these figures. 
Although Crown Court work comprises a relatively small portion of criminal legal aid in terms 
of volume, it consistently accounts for around two-thirds of all criminal legal aid expenditure. 
Conversely, advice relating to the police station makes up the largest portion of workload 
but a much smaller proportion of expenditure. 
 
Claim category
Workload 
(% change compared 
to the same quarter 
last year)
Expenditure 
(% change compared 
to the previous 
quarter last year)
Police station advice
158,000 (1%↓)
£32m (0%↔)
Magistrates' courts*
76,000 (10%↓)
£31m (9%↓)
Advice & assistance on appeals
352 (4%↑)
£0.4m (2%↑)
Prison Law
5,000 (13%↑)
£4m (19%↑)
Civil work associated with crime
56 (40%↑)
£0.02m (50%↑)
Solicitor fee scheme
24,000 (7%↓)
£84m (2%↑)
Advocate fee scheme
25,000 (5%↓)
£54m (4%↓)
High Cost crime cases
2 (0%↔)
£6m (26%↓)
Crime
Workload
287,000 (4%↓) 
Expenditure
£212m (2%↓)
Crime Lower 
239,000 (4%↓)  
£68m (4%↓)
Crime Higher  
48,000 (6%↓) 
£144m (2%↓)
Table  
1.1 

 
4 
 
Police station advice 
This category made up two thirds of the Crime Lower workload between July and 
September 2017 but less than half of the expenditure. The workload in this period remained 
relatively unchanged compared to the previous year, down by just 1%. This reflects a recent 
slowing to the general downward trend seen over the last three years, although this trend 
was never as steep as the decline for Crime Lower as a whole, or overall figures from the 
Crime Survey for England and Wales1. 
The majority of the police station advice workload (86% in July to September 2017) consists 
of suspects receiving legal help with a solicitor in attendance at the police station, with the 
remainder mainly consisting of legal advice over the telephone.  
 
Applications and grants for representation in the criminal courts   
While figures should be interpreted with caution as they may be revised in subsequent 
quarters as cases move into the Crown court, the number of orders granted for legally-aided 
representation in the magistrates’ court fell by 6% in this quarter when compared to the 
same quarter of the previous year. This continues the downward trend of the last 3 years, 
which has been largely driven by Summary Only cases. The overall number of receipts in 
the magistrates’ court2 (including those not involving legal aid) was 3% down over the same 
period. The proportion of these applications that are granted remains stable at around 95%.  
Orders granted for legally-aided representation in the Crown Court were also down, and to 
a greater degree; 8% this quarter compared to last year. Within this, orders relating to Either 
Way offences fell by 14%, while those relating to Indictable offences increased by 3%. The 
proportion of Crown Court applications granted remains at almost 100%. 
 
Magistrates’ court completed work 
 
Legally-aided representation in the magistrates’ court comprised around one-third of the 
workload and just under half of expenditure in Crime Lower between July and September 
2017. The volume of completed work in the magistrates’ court fell 10% this quarter when 
compared to the same period of the previous year. Expenditure fell by 9% (£3m). 
 
Crown Court completed work  
Volumes of cases completed in the Crown Court have declined over recent years but more 
gradually than new orders, due to longer-running cases still awaiting trial.  
Completed work volumes within the solicitor fee scheme were 7% lower in July to 
September 2017 than in the same period of the previous year, driven mainly by a 13% fall in 
cases in which the defendant pleads guilty at their earliest opportunity in the Crown Court. 
This may be due to procedural reforms in the court system, with more defendants pleading 
earlier at the magistrates’ court. In the advocate fee scheme there was a 5% fall compared 
to the same period last year; again, the largest fall was in the guilty plea category. 
The value of payments for completed claims in the solicitor fee scheme was 2% higher in 
July to September 2017 than in the same period of the previous year. In the advocate fee 
scheme, the value of payments was 4% lower than in the same period of the previous year. 
                                                 
1www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearending
mar2017 
2 www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-court-statistics 
Tables  
2.1 and 2.2 
Tables  
3.1 and 3.2 
Tables  
4.1 – 4.3 
Tables  
2.1 and 2.2 

 
5 
 
Since September 2014, solicitor firms have been able to apply for an interim payment on a 
claim in some circumstances. The left-hand side of Figure 4 shows the overall final 
expenditure on claims in which an interim payment was made at an earlier stage, and those 
in which no interim payment was made.  
In most instances, the provider later submits a final bill claiming further payment for work 
done up until the case finished, and these claims have been included in the statistics since 
2016. In a minority of instances, the provider submits a final bill claiming no further payment, 
or submits no further bill at all; these claims are now also included in the statistics for all 
periods from September 2014 but were not included in previous editions.  
The right-hand side of Figure 4 shows the overall final expenditure on claims in which an 
interim payment was made, split into the 2 categories described. The inclusion of the latter 
category has added 262 claims, amounting to £9.9m, spread across a 3-year period (shown 
by the dashed line in Figure 4). This increases the volume of completed claims in the 
solicitor fee scheme by less than 0.1% and the overall expenditure by 1%, over this period. 
For more detail on this change see the User Guide. 
 
Figure 4: Value of completed work in solicitor fee scheme, Jul-Sep 14 to Jul-Sep 17 
 
 
Very High Cost Cases in the Crown Court (VHCCs)  
VHCCs are those Crown Court cases in which, if the case were to proceed to trial, it would 
be likely to last more than 60 days. These cases can span many years and, while they may 
involve relatively small numbers of cases or defendants, the number of related contracts 
with providers and the amount spent are high in comparison.  
Expenditure on VHCCs has reduced by two-thirds over the last decade due to changes in 
rates paid and a reduction in the proportion of cases classified as a VHCC due to the 
threshold being increased to 60 days. The total of £6.0 million for the latest quarter ending 
September 2017 was 26% lower than same period the previous year. VHCCs currently 
represent around 4% of the overall cost of legal aid in the Crown Court.  
From the next edition we intend to change how we present statistics on VHCCs so that they 
are more directly comparable with the statistics for other legal aid work in the Crown Court 
and elsewhere. For details of these changes see the User guide.  
 
If you have views on this proposal please contact us at xxx@xxx.xx. 
 
 
Table  
4.4 

 
6 
 
Prison law   
Within criminal legal aid overall, prison law comprised 2% of the volume and 2% of 
expenditure in July to September 2017. Workload this quarter increased by 13% compared 
with the same period in the previous year, driven by an increase in advocacy at prison 
disciplinary hearings (up 36%). This category currently makes up just over one-third of 
prison law workload, but a much smaller proportion of costs (12%). Expenditure on prison 
law rose by 19% over the same period, with increases in each of the sub-categories.  
Tables  
2.1 and 2.2 

 
7 
 
2. Civil legal aid 
Main point  
 
There were 638 applications for ECF received between July to September 2017. This 
is the highest number of applications received in one quarter since the scheme began 
in April 2013 and a 33% increase from the same quarter last year.   
 
Figure 5: Civil overview, closed case volumes and expenditure for Jul-Sep 2017, and 
comparison with Jul-Sep 2016 
 
Legal help and controlled legal representation 
In the last quarter, there were 4% fewer legal help new matter starts than in the same period 
of 2016. The volume of completed claims decreased by 10% and expenditure by 6% in July 
to September 2017 compared to the same period in 2016 (figure 5). The implementation of 
the LASPO Act in April 2013 resulted in large reductions in legal help workload, with the 
overall trend falling to less than one-third of pre-LASPO levels.   
 
Figure 6: Completed workload and expenditure in legal help, Jul-Sep 2014 to Jul-Sep 
2017  
 
 
 
 
Workload 
(% change 
compared to the 
same quarter last 
year)
Expenditure 
(% change 
compared to the 
same quarter last 
year)
Family Public
22,000 (11%↑)
£118m (11%↑)
Family Private
9,000 (8%↓)
£22m (13%↓)
Mediation and MIAMS*
4,000 (8%↓)
£1m (10%↓)
Immigration
10,000 (9%↓)
£11m (4%↓)
Mental Health
9,000 (1%↓)
£11m (10%↑)
Housing
11,000 (9%↓)
£9m (7%↓)
Other Non-Family
3,000 (3%↓)
£32m (13%↓)
* Not included in family total
Civil 
Workload
64,000 (1%↓)
Expenditure 
£204m (2%↑)
Family 
31,000 (4%↑)
£140m (6%↑)
Non-Family
33,000 (6%↓)
£63m (7%↓)
Table  
1.2 
Tables  
5.1 – 5.3 

 
8 
 
 
Family legal help  
In July to September 2017 family legal help starts decreased by 12% compared to the same 
quarter last year. There were also decreases in completed claims (16%) and expenditure 
(13%). There was a steep decline immediately following the implementation of LASPO Act 
in April 2013, with a more gradual decline over the last 2 to 3 years. 
In family mediation, Mediation Information and Assessment Meetings (MIAMs) were down 
by 5% in the last quarter compared to the previous year and currently stand at just over a 
third of pre-LASPO levels. Starts were down by 14% and outcomes by 11%, and are now 
running at around half of pre-LASPO levels. 
 
Non-family legal help and controlled legal representation  
Legal help and controlled legal representation makes up over 95% of both immigration and 
mental health cases. Controlled legal representation relates to representation at tribunal 
and is often longer and more costly than legal help but, as with legal help, the decision on 
whether to grant legal aid is delegated to providers.   
The LASPO Act made changes to the scope of legal aid for immigration law, but some 
areas remained in scope. Workload that remains in the immigration category consists 
largely of asylum-related work. Having fallen by 40% over the 5 years to 2013-14, new 
matter starts in immigration stood 3% lower in the July to September 2017 quarter than in 
the same quarter of the previous year. Completed claims in immigration were down by 9% 
in the last quarter compared to the previous year and expenditure was down by 4%. 
Within mental health most funding is spent on providing assistance to sectioned clients 
appealing the terms of their detention before a mental health tribunal. Mental health new 
matter starts fell 4% when comparing the latest quarter to the previous year. Completed 
claims fell by 3% and expenditure fell by 4% over the same period. 
Over 80% of housing work volume is made up of legal help.  The volume of legally-aided 
housing work halved between July to September 2012 and July to September 2013. The 
trend then fluctuated for around 18 months but since 2014 it has been falling. In July to 
September 2017 there was a 2% increase in housing work starts compared to the same 
quarter the previous year. However, there were decreases in completed claims (11%) and 
expenditure (16%). 
 
Civil representation 
The number of civil representation certificates granted in the last quarter was down 2% 
compared to the same period of the previous year. The number of certificates completed 
increased by 12%, and the associated expenditure increased by 3% in the same period. 
The drop in civil representation workloads following the implementation of the LASPO Act in 
April 2013 was by a smaller proportion than for legal help. 
 
 
 
 
Tables  
6.1 – 6.10 
Tables 5.1 – 5.3  
and 7.1 – 7.2 
Tables  
5.1 – 5.3 

 
9 
 
Figure 7: Completed workload and expenditure in civil representation, Jul-Sep 14 to 
Jul-Sep 17 
 
 
Family civil representation  
Certificates granted for family work decreased by 3% in July to September 2017 compared 
to the previous year. There was an increase in certificates completed (13%) compared to 
the same quarter the previous year, however there has been a small fall compared to April 
to June 2017. The associated expenditure follows a similar pattern (6% increase compared 
to the same quarter the previous year and a 4% decrease compared to the previous 
quarter). This increase was largely due to public family law, which makes up around three 
quarters of family workload and over 80% of family expenditure. Certificates completed in 
public family law have fallen slightly after the peak last quarter.  
In July to September 2017, applications for civil representation in private family law 
supported by evidence of domestic abuse increased by 3% compared to the same period 
of the previous year. The number granted was down 3% compared to the same period of 
2016. The proportion of applications granted remained steady at around 70% from the 
inception of this type of application until the end of 2015, before increasing to around 80%. 
In the latest quarter it was 78%. 
 
 
Non-family civil representation  
Non-family certificates completed make up about 15% of the total civil representation 
workload and about a quarter of the expenditure. There are only a small number of 
immigration and mental health cases in civil representation as most work in these areas 
consists of controlled legal representation. The majority of the certificates completed in this 
category are for housing work. There has been a gradual decline in housing certificates 
completed and in expenditure on this category since 2014, but in the latest period there 
were 2% more than in the same period of the previous year. 
 
Judicial reviews  
Of all civil representation applications granted, around 3,000 a year relate to judicial review. 
The number granted in July to September 2017 was 8% higher than in the same quarter in 
2016. A third of judicial reviews were for immigration cases and another third were for public 
law.   
 
Tables  
6.1 – 6.10 
Tables  
6.1 – 6.7 

 
10 
 
Exceptional Case Funding (ECF)   
There were 638 applications for ECF received from July to September 2017. This is the 
highest number of applications received in a single quarter since the scheme began in April 
2013 and a 33% increase from the same quarter last year. 570 (89%) of these were new 
applications. 
Of the 638 ECF applications received between July and September 2017, 95% (603) had 
been determined by the LAA as of 20 November 2017. 54% (325) of these were granted, 
24% (146) were refused and 19% (113) rejected (see figure 8).  
Among the ECF applications received between July and September 2017, immigration 
(57%), inquest (18%), and family (13%) remained the most requested categories of law 
(figure 8). 
Figure 8: Volume of ECF applications received and ECF determinations by outcome, 
Jul-Sep 2014 to Jul-Sep 2017. 
 
 
 
Tables  
8.1 and 8.2 

 
11 
 
3. Further information 
This publication presents quarterly data trends. For figures published annually, including 
those on providers of legal aid, appealing legal aid decisions, Central Funds, butterfly charts 
and legal aid in the higher courts, please refer to our annual publication. 
Accompanying files 
As well as this bulletin, the following products are published as part of this release: 
• 
Tables: A set of tables, which give further detail and full time series for each 
area. 
• 
More detailed data: A detailed file to allow detailed analysis provided in both 
.csv (comma separated values) and .ods (OpenDocument Spreadsheet) formats 
• 
Data visualisation tool: A web-based tool allowing the user to view and 
customize charts and tables based on the published statistics. 
• 
Index of data in Legal aid statistics: An index to the more detailed data 
published in the .csv and .ods files, lists of available data from Legal Aid systems 
and guidance on how to work with the more detailed data using pivot tables. 
• 
User Guide to legal aid statistics: This provides comprehensive information 
about data sources and quality as well as key legislative changes. 
National Statistics status 
National Statistics status means that official statistics meet the highest 
standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value. 
All official statistics should comply with all aspects of the Code of Practice for 
Official Statistics. They are awarded National Statistics status following an 
assessment by the Authority’s regulatory arm. The Authority considers whether 
the statistics meet the highest standards of Code compliance, including the value they add 
to public decisions and debate. 
It is the Ministry of Justice’s responsibility to maintain compliance with the standards 
expected for National Statistics. If we become concerned about whether these statistics are 
still meeting the appropriate standards, we will discuss any concerns with the Authority 
promptly. National Statistics status can be removed at any point when the highest standards 
are not maintained, and reinstated when standards are restored. 
Contact 
Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice press office: 
Tel: xx-xxxx-xxxx 
Email: xxx@xxx.xx  
Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to the Justice Statistics Analytical 
Services division of the Ministry of Justice: 
Richard Field, Head of legal aid statistics  
Ministry of Justice, 7th Floor, 102 Petty France, London, SW1H 9AJ 
Email: xxx@xxx.xx  Tel: xx-xxxx-xxxx 
Next update: 29 March 2018 
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Alternative formats are available on request from xxx@xxx.xx