The Civil Legal Aid (Procedure and Remuneration) (Amendment) Regulations 2025
Source: legislation.gov.uk (2025-12-01)

These Regulations amend the Civil Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013 (S.I. 2013/422) to increase fees for Controlled Work in the housing and debt and immigration and asylum categories of civil legal aid. It also amends the Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) Regulations 2012 to substitute the Housing Possession Court Duty Scheme with the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service.

Statutory Instruments

2025 No. 1248

LEGAL AID AND ADVICE, ENGLAND AND WALES

The Civil Legal Aid (Procedure and Remuneration) (Amendment) Regulations 2025

Made

27th November 2025

Laid before Parliament

1st December 2025

Coming into force

22nd December 2025

The Lord Chancellor makes these Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 2(3), 12(2) and 41(1)(a) and (b), (2)(a) and (3)(c) of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012(1 (\"#f00001\")).

Citation, commencement and extent

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Civil Legal Aid (Procedure and Remuneration) (Amendment) Regulations 2025.

(2) These Regulations come into force on 22nd December 2025.

(3) These Regulations extend to England and Wales.

Amendments to the Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) Regulations 2012

2. Regulation 14 (Duty Scheme) of the Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) Regulations 2012(2 (\"#f00002\")) is amended as follows—

(a)for the heading substitute “Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service”;

(b)in sub-paragraph (a)—

(i)for “Housing Possession Court Duty Scheme,” substitute “Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service”, and

(ii)for “2013” substitute “2024”;

(c)in sub-paragraph (b), for “2013” substitute “2024”.

Amendments to the Civil Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013

3.—(1) Schedule 1 to the Civil Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013(3 (\"#f00003\")) is amended as follows.

(2) In Part 1 (Civil Standard Fees)—

(a)for paragraph (2) substitute—

“2. The fees in Table 1 for Housing do not apply to the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service. The fees for that service are contained in Table 6(a) in this Part.”;

(b)in paragraph 3, in Table 1, in the fourth row (Debt)—

(i)in the second column (Standard Fee), for £180 substitute £256, and

(ii)in the third column (Escape Fee Threshold), for £540 substitute £768;

(c)in paragraph 3, in Table 1, in the sixth row (Housing)—

(i)in the second column (Standard Fee), for £157 substitute £223, and

(ii)in the third column (Escape Fee Threshold), for £471 substitute £669;

(d)for Table 4(a) substitute—

Table 4(a): Immigration and Asylum Standard Fees

Immigration and Asylum

Type of matterStage 1 (legal help)Stage 2a (controlled legal representation)Stage 2b (controlled legal representation)Asylum£559£274£685Immigration – non asylum£317£274£549

(e)for Table 4(aa) substitute—

Table 4(aa): Immigration and Asylum Standard Fees – online system appeals

Immigration and Asylum: online procedure appeals

Type of matterStage 2d (appeals without a hearing)Stage 2e (appeals with a hearing)Asylum£808£1,219Immigration – non asylum£759£1,033

(f)in Table 4(b) (Additional Payment – UKVI Interview), for “£266” substitute “£360”;

(g)in Table 4(ba) (Additional Payment – National Referral Mechanism), for “£150” substitute “£203”;

(h)for Table 4(c) substitute—

Table 4(c): Additional Payments for Advocacy (including Online Procedure Advocacy) Services

ActivityAdvocacy Services Standard FeeOral Case Management Review Hearing£183Telephone Case Management Review Hearing£99Substantive Hearing in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First-tier TribunalAsylum - £332Substantive Hearing in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First-tier TribunalImmigration - £261Additional Day Substantive HearingAsylum - £177Immigration - £177

(i)omit Table 4(ca);

(j)for Table 4(d) substitute—

Table 4(d): Immigration Removal Centres Standard Fees (for Exclusive Schedule Holders only)On Site Surgery – advising 5 or more clients£497On Site Surgery – advising 4 clients or fewer£249Standby Payment£47

(k)omit Table 6;

(l)for Table 6(a) substitute—

Table 6(a): Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service (HLPAS)

ActivityStandard FeeEscape Fee ThresholdHLPAS Stage One: early legal advice£223£669HLPAS Stage Two: in-court duty scheme£108 (London rate)N/A£102 (Non-London rate)

(3) In Part 2 (Hourly Rates - Controlled Work)—

(a)for the heading in Table 7(a) substitute “Mental Health, Claims Against Public Authorities, Public Law, Education and Community Care”;

(b)after Table 7(a) insert—

Table 7(aa): Immigration and Asylum and Housing and Debt

ActivityLondon RateNon-London RatePreparation, Attendance and Advocacy£69.30 per hour£65.35 per hourTravel and Waiting Time£34.65 per hour£32.70 per hourRoutine Letters Out and Telephone Calls£5.35 per item£5.20 per item

(c)for the heading in Table 7(b), substitute “Family and Miscellaneous (employment)”;

(d)for the heading of Table 7(c), substitute “Family help (lower) and related legal help in relation to section 31 of the Children Act 1989”;

(e)omit Table 7(d);

(f)for Table 8(a) substitute—

Table 8(a): Immigration and Asylum - Escape Fee Cases

Controlled Legal Representation

ActivityLondon RateNon-London RatePreparation and Attendance£69.30 per hour£65.35 per hourTravel and Waiting Time£34.65 per hour£32.70 per hourRoutine Letters Out and Telephone Calls£5.35 per item£5.20 per itemAdvocacy£72.35 per hour£72.35 per hour

(g)for Table 8(c) substitute—

Table 8(c): Controlled Legal Representation — Immigration and Asylum hourly rates cases

ActivityLondon RateNon-London RatePreparation and Attendance£69.30 per hour£65.35 per hourTravel and Waiting Time£34.65 per hour£32.70 per hourRoutine Letters Out and Telephone Calls£5.35 per item£5.20 per itemAdvocacy£69.30 per hour£68.90 per hour

Saving provision in relation to regulation 3

4.—(1) The amendments made by regulation 3 do not affect the payment of remuneration by the Lord Chancellor to providers of civil legal services in relation to a case where the application for civil legal services was made before 22nd December 2025.

(2) For the purposes of this regulation an application is made on the date on which it is signed.

Signed by authority of the Lord Chancellor

Sarah Sackman

Minister of State

Ministry of Justice

27th November 2025

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Civil Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013 (S.I. 2013/422 (\"http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2013/422\")) to increase fees for Controlled Work in the housing and debt and immigration and asylum categories of civil legal aid. It also amends the Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) Regulations 2012 to substitute the Housing Possession Court Duty Scheme with the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service.

Regulation 2 updates the Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/3098 (\"http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2012/3098\")) by amending the reference to the Housing Possession Court Duty Scheme, as this was replaced by the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service on the 1st August 2023 as a result of the Civil Legal Aid (Housing and Asylum Accommodation) Order 2023 (S.I. 2023/147 (\"http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2023/147\")).

Regulation 3 amends the Civil Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013 to amend the rates paid to immigration and asylum legal aid and the housing and debt providers for the fees paid for preparation and attendance to at least £65.35/£69.30 per hour (non-London/London), or provide a 10% uplift, whichever is higher, across Controlled Work. Fixed fees and escape fee thresholds are uplifted by the same percentage increase as the underlying hourly rate for that work. It also merges the immigration and asylum table with the housing and debt table where the values are the same. The rates in table 8(ca) have not been increased as they are not payable for Controlled Legal Representation commenced on or after 1st April 2023.

Regulation 4 provides that the amendments made in regulation 3 do not affect the payment of civil legal services provided under a legal aid determination made before 22nd December 2025.

An impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business, the voluntary sector and the public sector is included in the assessment published with the explanatory memorandum alongside this instrument (on www.legislation.gov.uk (\"http://www.legislation.gov.uk\")).

(1)

2012 c. 10 (\"http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/ukpga/2012/10\").

(2)

S.I. 2012/3098 (\"http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2012/3098\"); the relevant amending instrument is S.I. 2023/147 (\"http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2023/147\").

(3)

S.I. 2013/422 (\"http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2013/422\"), relevant amending instruments are S.I. 2013/2877 (\"http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2013/2877\"), S.I. 2015/325 (\"http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2015/325\"), S.I. 2020/1001 (\"http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2020/1001\"), S.I. 2022/1379 (\"http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2022/1379\"), S.I. 2023/147 (\"http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2023/147\") and S.I. 2024/889 (\"http://www.legislation.gov.uk/id/uksi/2024/889\").