Legal aid statistics England and Wales bulletin Jan to Mar 2016
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.

1 
 
                                                                                                            
 
 
Legal Aid Statistics in 
England and Wales 
January to March 2016 
 
 
Ministry of Justice Statistics bulletin 
These statistics are derived from data held by the Legal Aid Agency, 
produced by the Legal Aid Agency’s statistics team and published by the 
Ministry of Justice. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Published 30 June 2016 
 
 

 
 
2 
 
Contents 
Introduction 
3 
Key findings 
6 
Analysis and commentary 
7 
Criminal legal aid 
9 
Crime lower 
11 
Crime higher 
16 
Other criminal legal aid 
20 
Civil legal aid 
22 
Family 
27 
Family mediation 
28 
Non-family 
29 
Civil legal aid subcategories 
33 
Exceptional case funding 
36 
Appeals and representations 
41 
Appeals 
41 
Representations 
43 
Legal aid providers 
44 
All providers 
46 
Civil providers 
46 
Crime providers 
48 
Providers by region 
49 
Client characteristics 
52 
Client characteristics 
52 
Annex A - Contact points for further information 
56 
 
 

 
 
3 
 
Introduction 
Legal Aid Statistics in England and Wales is published every quarter, presenting the key 
statistics on activity in the legal aid system. This edition comprises the first release of official 
statistics for the three month period from January to March 2016 and also provides the 
latest statement of all figures for previous periods and longer term trends. 
 
Information published in this release 
The Legal Aid Statistics: January to March 2016 release, published at 
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/legal-aid-statistics, consists of the following 
documents: 
 
Bulletin: This bulletin, which provides key figures, graphs, explanation and 
commentary. 
 
 
Tables: A set of tables, which give further detail and full time series for each area. 
 
 
Charts from bulletin: The underlying data from which the charts and graphs in 
Legal Aid Statistics are created 
 
 
More detailed data: A more detailed set of data, provided in the form of a csv 
(comma separated values) file, to facilitate detailed analysis using pivot tables, and 
re-use of the data using a variety of software packages. 
 
 
More detailed data guidance: An index to the csv file of more detailed data and 
guidance on how to work with the CSV file using pivot tables. 
 
 
Provider data: Provider level data, provided in the form of a csv file to allow further 
analysis on the number of provider offices to complete work in a period, the amount 
of work completed and the expenditure associated with that work. 
 
 
Client diversity data: A set of data provided in the form of a csv file showing 
diversity characteristics of legal aid clients. 
 
To accompany this information, A User Guide to Legal Aid Statistics, which includes a 
brief background to the legal aid system, information on data sources, data quality and 
revisions, information about how these statistics are used and a glossary of key terms used 
in this bulletin, can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/a-guide-to-legal-
aid-statistics-in-england-and-wales 
The next edition of Legal Aid Statistics will be published on Thursday 29 September 2016 
In accordance with principle 2 of the code of practice for official statistics, the MoJ is required 
to publish transparent guidelines on its policy for revisions. A copy of this statement can be 
found at: www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/statistics/mojstats/statistics-revisions-policy.pdf 
Details about specific revisions can be found in our user guide. 
 

 
 
4 
 
A list of officials who have received pre-release access to each legal aid statistical release 
up to 24 hours in advance of publication can be found on the webpage for each respective 
release, accessible from https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/legal-aid-statistics 
User feedback  
Feedback from users helps us to make the Legal Aid Statistics valuable and relevant. We 
can be contacted at xxx@xxx.xx or you can follow this link to complete our 
short user survey: http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/6U58M 
 
 
Measuring activity in the legal aid system 
Workload 
The legal aid system involves a diverse range of activities and services, from relatively quick, 
lower-cost events such as the provision of pre-charge advice in a police station to a 
complex, relatively high-cost court case.  
Additionally, workload volumes can be measured at different stages in delivery. For 
example, legal aid work in a court can be measured at the point when an order for legally 
aided representation is granted, or after all of the work on a case is completed and the 
provider has been paid for the work.  
Therefore, the units in which workload can be measured differ across the system, and it is 
difficult to summarise workload for the system overall within a single number. For this 
reason, users are advised to look at trends in workloads for each area of legal aid 
separately. 
Expenditure 
This bulletin presents expenditure in terms of the total value of payments made to legal aid 
providers in relation to pieces of work (cases) that are completed in the period. Presenting 
expenditure data on this ‘closed-case’ basis means that it can be shown alongside the work 
to which it relates, and to the same level of detail. 
This is different from the way expenditure figures are presented for budgeting and 
accounting purposes, such as those in the Legal Aid Agency’s (LAA) Annual Report and 
Accounts, which are presented on an accruals basis (meaning that they report the value of 
the work done in the period). There are important differences between these two measures 
of value which mean that they are not directly comparable. These differences include timing: 
 
For more complex work, for example many crime higher and civil representation 
cases, a portion of the work on a case that is completed and paid for in a given 
period may have taken place over previous periods, but on the closed-case basis its 
entire value will be included within the expenditure figures for the period in which the 
case closes.  
 
Similarly, the value of any work that is done in a given period on cases that have not 
yet been completed or paid for will not be included in the closed-case expenditure 
figures for that period.   
The combined effect is that expenditure figures on the closed-case basis lag behind those 
presented on an accruals basis (such as those in the LAA’s Annual Report and Accounts), 

 
 
5 
 
so any trends in expenditure will emerge later, particularly for more complex areas of legal 
aid work. 
Another important difference is that the figures in this bulletin do not take account of income 
received in the period or expenditure in relation to debt write-offs (to illustrate, the LAA’s 
income in 2014-15 was £198m and expenditure in relation to debt write-offs was £22m, out 
of total net programme expenditure (that is, excluding administration costs) of £1,586m).  
 
 

 
 
6 
 
Key findings 
Criminal legal aid 
1. 
The gradual decline of recent years in crime lower workloads has continued in the 
context of falling overall crime rates, and the latest quarter saw a 9% fall compared to 
the same period in the previous year (see figure 3).  
2. 
Expenditure on crime lower has declined more than workloads, down 15% compared 
to the same period of the previous year (see figure 4). This reflects the impact of recent 
reductions to the fees paid for most crime lower legal aid work. 
3. 
In crime higher, the trend in new work entering the system is declining, with the 
number of representation orders granted in the crown court in the last quarter down 
19% compared to the same period of 2015 (see figure 8). 
4. 
The volume of cases completed in crime higher in the last quarter remained stable 
(see figure 10), driven largely by the number of sitting days in Crown Courts across 
England and Wales, which are in turn managed in response to workloads currently in 
the criminal justice system. 
Civil legal aid 
5. 
The implementation of the LASPO Act in April 2013 resulted in large reductions in 
overall legal help workload and the overall trend subsequently levelled out at around 
one-third of pre-LASPO levels. In the last quarter new matter starts were however 13% 
lower than in the same period of 2015 (see figure 12). 
6. 
Workloads in civil representation fell by a smaller proportion than legal help following 
the implementation of LASPO, before levelling out at around two-thirds of pre-LASPO 
levels. The number of certificates granted in the last quarter was however up 10% 
compared to the same period of the previous year (see figure 12). 
7. 
After sharp falls following LASPO, the number of mediation assessments in the latest 
quarter was 14% down compared to the same period in 2015 and the number of starts 
was down by 18% over the same period. 
Exceptional Case Funding 
8. 
There were 390 applications for ECF received between January and March 2016. This 
is the highest received in a singular quarter since Oct-Dec 13. 
9. 
Between January and March 2016, over half of those that had been determined were 
granted (54%).  
Annual chapters 
10. This edition of Legal aid statistics includes additional section that are updated only 
annually. These present figures for legal aid providers, appeals against legal aid 
decisions, representations, some areas of criminal legal aid and client characteristics. 

 
 
7 
 
Analysis and commentary 
Summary 
Legal aid workload can be broken down into two main justice areas, criminal and civil: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Legal aid 
Criminal legal aid 
- This includes work carried out in 
police stations and in courts in 
relation to people accused of or 
charged with criminal offences. 
- Provides legal advice and 
representation to people being 
investigated or charged with a 
criminal offence. 
- Can be split into the categories 
crime higher and crime lower. 
o Crime higher is legal 
representation in the Crown 
Court and above. 
o Crime lower is work carried out 
by legal aid providers at police 
stations and in magistrates’ 
courts in relation to people 
accused of or charged with 
criminal offences. Prison law is 
also included. 
 
Civil legal aid 
- This includes work that relates to the 
rights and relations of private 
citizens, for example disputes 
relating to unpaid debts and family 
matters. 
- A network of organisations fund, 
provide and promote civil legal 
advice and representation.  
- Can be split into the categories legal 
help and civil representation. 
o Legal help includes advice and 
assistance about a legal 
problem. 
o Civil representation is 
representation by solicitors and 
barristers for civil cases which 
could go to court 

 
 
8 
 
It is difficult to summarise workloads across the legal aid system meaningfully within a single 
number because of the diversity of services being provided, so users of these statistics are 
best advised to look at trends in workload for each area of legal aid separately.  
Perhaps the best way to summarise the entire system in a broad sense is to look at 
expenditure. These statistics present expenditure in terms of the value of payments made to 
legal aid providers for work completed in each period, which is different from the way 
expenditure figures are presented for budgeting and accounting purposes (see page 5 for 
further explanation).  
On this ‘closed-case’ basis, expenditure on work completed between January and March 
2016 was just over £420m1, a 4% reduction on the same quarter of 2015 and an 18% 
reduction on the same quarter of 2013, but a 4% increase from the previous quarter (see 
figure 1). Expenditure on civil legal aid has fallen further than that on crime over this period. 
These trends reflects changes to workloads, fees and the scope of legal aid over recent 
years, although they are not adjusted for inflation. These changes are discussed in more 
detail throughout this statistical bulletin. 
Figure 1: Value of payments made for cases completed in January 2013 to March 2016, by 
legal aid scheme 
 
                                                 
1 Data on the value of completed cases are provisional and subject to change in subsequent 
publications. Figures include mediation in civil representation and central funds in crime 
higher but not higher courts. 

 
 
9 
 
Criminal legal aid 
The diagram below shows the availability of legal aid flows (in bold) throughout the Criminal 
Justice System with legal services touching on the system from start to finish. 
 
All criminal cases are potentially within the scope of the criminal legal aid scheme, subject to 
the Interests of Justice test and the means test operating to exclude some cases. 
Figures are given in this report for each of the areas above and are categorised into Crime 
Lower and Crime Higher. Figure 2 below shows the relative size of each category and area 
both in terms of workload volumes and expenditure. 
Crime Lower includes information from the pre-charge and police station stage, the early 
court system (including magistrates’ courts) and prison assistance. These are the relatively 
higher volume, lower cost units of criminal legal aid work. For more detailed figures on Crime 
Lower, see Tables 2.1 to 3.1 of the Tables published alongside this report. 
Crime Higher includes work in the Crown Courts and Higher Courts. This relates to more 
serious criminal matters only and involves the relatively lower volume, higher cost units of 
criminal legal aid work. Most cases within the Crown Court have both a litigator (solicitor) 
and an advocate (barrister or higher solicitor advocate). A small proportion of the most 
complex Crown Court cases are categorised by the LAA as Very High Cost Cases (VHCCs) 
and managed differently. For more detailed figures on Crime Higher, see Tables 3.2 to 4.4 of 
the Tables published alongside this report. 
Workload in the wider Criminal Justice System has fallen in the last few years and as a 
consequence some areas of criminal legal aid have also seen a gradual fall. The largest 
reduction in workload within criminal legal aid between January and March 2016 and the 
same period in the previous year was for pre charge defendants, which has fallen by around 
15,500 cases (9%).   
•Home 
Office 
Figures
Crime
•Crown 
Prosecution 
Service 
volumes
•LAA pre-
charge 
advice
Police 
station
•HM Courts & 
Tribunals 
Service figures
•LAA  court 
representation 
Magistrates
' Court
•HM Courts & 
Tribunals Service 
figures
•LAA court 
representation
Crown 
Court
•Royal Courts of 
Justice figures
•LAA  court 
representation
Higher Court
•National 
Offender 
Management 
Service figures
•LAA Advice 
for prisoners
Prison

 
 
10 
 
Figure 2: Volumes and expenditure within criminal legal aid area, April 2015 to March 2016  
 
 
Note: figures have been rounded so may not sum to totals 

 
 
11 
 
Crime lower  
The gradual decline in crime lower workloads in recent years has continued in the context of 
falling overall crime rates, and the latest quarter saw a 9% fall compared to the same period 
in the previous year (see figure 3).  
Expenditure on crime lower has declined more than workloads, down 15% compared to the 
same period of the previous year (see figure 4). This reflects the introduction in March 2014 
of a reduction of 8.75% to the fees paid for most crime lower legal aid work. It may also 
reflect to some extent the impact of a second reduction of the same size introduced from 
July 2015. This second reduction was suspended from April 2016, just after the period 
covered by this statistical release. 
Figure 3: Number of cases within crime lower, Jan-Mar 2013 to Jan-Mar 2016  
 
 

 
 
12 
 
Figure 4: The value of completed crime lower cases, Jan-Mar 2013 to Jan-Mar 2016 
 
Note: Data on the value of completed cases are provisional and subject to change  
Pre-charge suspects (Table 2.1 and 2.2) 
Anyone in England and Wales who is interviewed by the police or attends a police station 
can receive advice funded by legal aid either on the telephone or by a solicitor in attendance 
with the suspect. The LAA has limited control over the volume of police station claims. 
Changes to police numbers and priorities will lead to changes in the number of arrests, 
charges and cautions. 
Pre-charge work made up almost two-thirds of the crime lower workload between January 
and March 2016 but less than half of crime lower expenditure. Pre-charge legal aid workload 
between January and March 2016 fell by 9% compared to the previous year (see figure 5). 
Over the last two years the trend has been gradually downward, but not by as much as 
crime lower as a whole or overall Crime Survey figures for England and Wales2. 
The majority of the pre-charge workload (87% in January to March 2016) consists of 
suspects receiving legal help with a solicitor in attendance at the police station.    
 
 
                                                 
2http://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandand
wales/yearendingdecember2015 
 

 
 
13 
 
Figure 5: Workload with pre-charge suspects, Jan-Mar 2013 to Jan-Mar 2016 
 
Magistrates’ court (Table 2.1 and 2.2 and 3.1) 
Legally-aided representation in the magistrates’ court comprised around one-third of the 
crime lower workload between January and March 2016 and around half of crime lower 
expenditure. The volume of completed work in the magistrates’ court fell by 8% in this 
quarter when compared to the same period of the previous year.  
The number of orders granted for legally-aided representation in the magistrates’ court fell 
by 11% in this quarter when compared to the previous year. This continues the existing 
downward trend of the last 2 years. Disruptive action taken by some criminal legal aid 
providers during July and August 2015 may have reduced the figure for the July to 
September quarter of 2015 to some extent. The proportion of applications that are granted 
has changed very little over recent years, at around 95% (table 3.1). The overall number of 
receipts in the magistrates’ court3 (including those not involving legal aid) was 4% lower than 
the same than in the same period of the previous year. Figure 6 shows the overall number of 
receipts and the number of representation orders granted in the period. 
Receipts in the magistrates’ court include triable-either-way and indictable trials, summary 
motoring, summary non-motoring and breach cases. The overall number of receipts is much 
greater than the numbers of legal aid representation orders because applications for legal 
aid are not submitted for many of the less serious (summary) offences as the circumstances 
will not meet the criteria set out in the Interests of Justice test. 
The Interests of Justice test considers the merits of a case (for example a person’s previous 
convictions, the nature of the offence and the risk of custody) to determine if an applicant 
qualifies for legal aid. The more serious the charge or possible consequences for the 
defendant, the more likely that the case will qualify for legal aid.  
                                                 
3 https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-court-statistics 

 
 
14 
 
Figure 6: Magistrates’ court trends - representation and receipts, Jan-Mar 13 to Jan-Mar 16 
 
 
 
Prison Law (Table 2.1 and 2.2) 
Prison law made up less than 2% of the crime lower workload between January and March 
2016, but around 5% of expenditure. In July 2010 changes were made to legal aid for prison 
law, including a new requirement for legal aid providers to apply to the LAA for prior approval 
before starting work on treatment cases. Following those changes, prison law workload 
began to decline (see figure 7).   
In December 2013, under the Legal Aid Transformation (LAT) programme, changes were 
made to the scope of legal aid available for prison law. These changes appear to have 
accelerated the existing downward trend in prison law workload over the following year, with 
free standing advice and assistance accounting for most of the decline. The trend has been 
more stable over the last year, although workload fell 16% in January to March 2016 
compared to the same period the previous year. Expenditure on prison law over the same 
period fell by 12%.  
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
15 
 
Figure 7: Volume of workload within prison law, Jan-Mar 2013 to Jan-Mar 2016 
 

 
 
16 
 
Crime higher 
Representations at Crown Court (Table 3.2) 
The workload in the Crown Court can be broadly split into the following categories: 
Either way offence: An offence which can be tried either before the magistrates’ court or 
the Crown Court.  
Indictable offence: A criminal offence that can only be tried in the Crown Court.  
Committed for sentence: A case where a magistrate decides that the penalties available 
to them are inadequate and commits the case to the crown court for sentencing. 
Appeals: The Crown Court deals with appeals from magistrates’ court against conviction 
and sentence 
The number of legal aid representation orders granted in the Crown Court fell by 19% in this 
quarter when compared to the previous year, continuing a decline that began in 2014. All 
categories of orders declined over this period, but those relating to indictable offences fell 
proportionately less than other categories (see figure 9).  
The downward trend in orders is largely driven by a reduction in cases received in the Crown 
Court overall over this period4 (see figure 8). Over 99% of applications for legal aid in the 
Crown Court are granted, and this has changed very little over recent years (table 3.2).  
Similarly to orders in the magistrates’ court (see above), disruptive action taken by some 
criminal legal aid providers during July and August may have reduced the figure for the July 
to September quarter of 2015 to some extent.  
These figures are subject to upward revisions in subsequent releases as some cases move 
up from the Magistrates’ to the Crown Court, so figures for the most recent 2 to 3 quarters 
should be considered provisional.  
For more information on data quality and revisions please see the User guide to legal aid 
statistics.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
4 https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-court-statistics 
 

 
 
17 
 
Figure 8: Representation orders granted and receipts in the Crown Court, Jan-Mar 2013 to 
Jan-Mar 2016 
 
Figure 9: Representation orders granted in the Crown Court, Jan-Mar 2013 to Jan-Mar 
2016, by case category 
 
 

 
 
18 
 
Volumes of cases completed in the crime higher category have declined slightly over the last 
three years, although increased by 1% from the same period of the previous year (see figure 
10). These volumes relate only indirectly to trends in crime and new orders for 
representation; they are driven largely by the number of sitting days in Crown Courts, which 
are in turn managed in response to workloads within the criminal justice system.  
The trend in the value of payments for completed cases in crime higher (figure 11) has been 
generally similar to that of the volumes over the last 3 years but, although volumes in Jan-
Mar 2016 were only 1% higher than the same period in the previous year, expenditure was 
up by 6%. This reflects an increase in the proportion of this work which comprises relatively 
complex, lengthy trials. This has been accompanied by an increase in the amount of 
prosecution evidence involved, which is an important driver of legal aid costs. Together, 
these factors have outweighed the impact of reductions over this period to fees paid to 
solicitors for crime higher legal aid work. 
Figure 10: Number of cases completed within crime higher (Tables 4.2 – 4.4), Jan-Mar 2013 
to Jan-Mar 2016 
 
Note: High cost cases are case starts and both litigator and advocate case completions are 
included. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
19 
 
Figure 11: The value of completed crime higher cases (Table 4.2 – 4.4), Jan-Mar 2013 to 
Jan-Mar 2016 
 
 
Note: High cost cases are case starts and both litigator and advocate case completions are 
included. 
 
Very High Cost Cases (VHCCs) (Table 4.4) 
VHCCs are those cases in which, if the case were to proceed to trial, it would be likely to last 
more than 60 days. In fact, these cases can span a number of 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. For each VHCC opened there may 
be multiple defendants, each represented by a different provider with separate VHCC 
contracts. The LAA makes decisions in relation to authority to incur expenditure for expert 
reports and runs a High Cost Case contracting scheme seeking to limit expenditure on these 
complex cases. 
Total expenditure on VHCCs from January to March 2016 was £5.8 million, a reduction of 
9% compared to January to March 2015. Falling VHCC costs are due to changes in rates 
paid and also a reduction in the proportion of cases classified as a VHCC due to the 
threshold being increased from 40 to 60 days on 1 April 2013. VHCCs currently represent 
around 4% of the overall cost of legal aid in the Crown Court.  
 
 

 
 
20 
 
Other criminal legal aid 
There are some areas of criminal legal aid that are not covered in the crime lower and crime 
higher categories:  
Discretionary and legacy claims  
This is legal aid in the Crown Court covering discretionary and legacy claims related to 
graduated fee schemes. These claims include: 
 
discretionary claims for costs under a Representation Order i.e. litigators’ claims for 
confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act, advocates’ claims for 
committals for sentence and appeals to the Crown Court, and breaches of Crown 
Court orders;  
 
proceedings predating the various fixed fee schemes (legacy cases) or falling outside 
the scope of the formal schemes. 
The figures in table 4.1 show a reduction in expenditure over the last few years as cases 
have moved out of discretionary claims in to the main graduated fee schemes. Much of the 
remaining £12m of expenditure in 2015-16 relates to confiscation proceedings. 
The Higher Courts: Court of Appeal and Supreme Court  
Legal aid for the higher courts is expenditure paid by the Court of Appeal, Senior courts cost 
office and Supreme Court, and is administered by those courts. The grant of legal aid is also 
determined by the courts by an Interest of Justice test only as there are no means tests for 
this area. 
Figures for this area of criminal legal aid are shown in Table 4.1. The volume figures are 
based on numbers of payment transactions. For the 12 month period from April 2015 to 
March 2016 there were 3,500 claims from the Court of Appeal, with a value of around £2.8m. 
For the Senior courts cost office, there were just under 600 claims in the 12 months from 
April 2015 to March 2016, with associated expenditure of just over £4.2m. Expenditure in the 
Supreme Court for the 12 month period from April 15 to March 16 was just under £0.4m. 
Expenditure in the Supreme Court relates to a very small number of cases. 
Central Funds  
This category encompasses arrangements to meet costs in a variety of scenarios that are 
not covered by the main criminal legal aid schemes. Some aspects of these are 
administered by the LAA and others by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service.  
In 2015-16 the total expenditure for Central Funds was just over £49m. This is £11m (22%) 
lower than the previous year. 
In October 2014 the LAA’s administrative system for Central Funds payments was improved 
to allow more detailed data to be collected. This improved data has been used to provide 
more detailed statistics from that point, as shown in Table 11.1. In summary: 
 
The largest area of expenditure (£13.5m in 2015-16) relates to the reimbursement of 
defendants who have been acquitted after privately funding their defence lawyers. 
The process for assessing and authorising reimbursement of costs from central funds 
in this scenario is normally triggered when a judge grants a Defence Cost Order 
(DCO) for legal aid at Magistrates, Crown or higher courts.  

 
 
21 
 
For Crown Court cases which began between October 2012 and January 2014 a 
DCO is no longer available. For cases starting after January 2014 a DCO may be 
granted where an application for legal aid was initially submitted and refused. Prior to 
October 2012, magistrates DCOs were paid at private hourly rates, but since then 
they have been paid at legal aid hourly rates. 
 
Another sizeable area of Central funds expenditure (£11.4m in 2015-16) covers the 
costs of lawyers required where a defendant is unrepresented but where the court 
decides that the defendant must not themselves be allowed to cross-examine a 
vulnerable witness, with cases involving domestic violence being typical. This 
situation is covered by the terms of section 36 of the Youth Justice and Criminal 
Evidence Act 1999. 
 
The costs of interpreters and translators in court comprise another area of Central 
Funds expenditure (£10.7m in 2015-16). 
 
The remainder of Central Funds expenditure (£13.4m in 2015-16) goes to meet the 
costs of court intermediaries (£6.7m in 2015-16) and successful private 
prosecutions (£4.6m in 2015-16) and towards meeting some of the reasonable 
costs of attending magistrates’ court for witnesses, experts and defendants 
(£2.1m in 2015-16). 

 
 
22 
 
Civil legal aid 
Many events and issues in people’s lives which are not associated with crime, but which 
concern the rights and relations of private citizens, can also require legal assistance. These 
can be issues such as discrimination, dealt with through the telephone advice service, or a 
divorce with several court appearances.  
 
 
         
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Civil legal aid can be broadly categorised into legal help (see Tables 5.1 to 5.3) and civil 
representation (Tables 6.1 to 6.9). The nature of each form of service is explained in the 
diagram above. The first point of contact for a client of civil legal aid is usually legal help, 
which covers help via telephone, face-to-face with a solicitor or at Not-for-Profit centres.  
Legal 
Help
Initial Legal 
Advice: 
Face to 
Face
Initial Legal 
Advice: 
Community 
legal aid 
centre
Telephone 
advice
Civil 
Rep
Investigative 
casework
Rep: 
Tribunals
Rep: 
Courts
Mediation: 
Family only
Civil Representation is 
representation by solicitors and 
barristers for civil cases which 
could go to court.
In this report the number of 
certificates granted is used to 
measure changes in Civil 
Representation workload.
Legal Help includes advice and 
assistance about a legal problem, 
but does not usually include 
representation or advocacy in 
proceedings.
In this report the number of 
matters started is used to 
measure changes to workload in 
Legal Help.
Controlled Legal Representation is representation in 
Mental Health and Immigration tribunals.  Unlike civil 
representation, determinations on legal aid are delegated to 
providers to make and would usually form part of the same 
legal help matter opened to deal with initial advice and 
assistance. 

 
 
23 
 
Many of these matters will then extend into civil representation with full investigations 
undertaken or in-court representation given. However, under some circumstances a client 
may enter straight into civil representation. Legal Aid for representation at the Mental Health  
Tribunal or the Immigration & Asylum Tribunal is funded through controlled legal 
representation.  
Legal aid for representation in other categories, or in higher courts for immigration and 
asylum or mental health, is funded through civil representation. Public funding is also 
available for family mediation, which is an alternative to settling family disputes through 
Court proceedings. 
The implementation of LASPO in April 2013 resulted in large reductions in overall legal help 
workload and expenditure. Since this initial fall workloads have levelled out overall at around 
one-third of pre-LASPO levels. In the last quarter new matter starts were however 13% lower 
than in the same period of 2015 (see figure 12).  
Unlike for civil representation, the decision to offer legal help or controlled legal 
representation to a client is generally devolved by the LAA to legal aid providers, who must 
apply means and merits tests to each potential client. LAA administrative systems do not 
therefore hold information on applications for legal help that are not granted. 
Workloads in civil representation also fell substantially following the implementation of 
LASPO, though by a smaller proportion than legal help. They now appear stable overall at 
around two-thirds of pre-LASPO levels. The number of certificates granted in the last quarter 
was however up 10% compared to the same period of the previous year (see figure 12). 
In response to feedback from users, we have continued in this edition to show a second way 
of presenting figures on the granting of certificates for civil representation. In the original 
presentation, grants are shown against the period in which the decision was made and 
recorded (see table 6.2) – these are referred to as ‘decision-based timing’. In the newer 
presentation, grants are also shown against the period in which the application to which they 
relate was made – these are referred to as ‘application-based timing’ (shown alongside 
applications in table 6.1). Each way has advantages and disadvantages for the user: the 
former shows more accurately the timing of latest workload entering the system, while the 
latter enables the calculation of the proportion of applications in a given period that were 
granted. We would welcome further feedback from users on this addition via the contact 
details in Annex A.  
The proportion of applications for civil representation that are granted has increased in 
recent years, with around 90% of all applications received over the last 12 months initially 
granted a certificate compared with around 83% prior to the introduction of LASPO (see 
table 6.1). This may be due to a change in the mix of areas of law involved. For example, the 
proportion of applications that relate to the special children act has increased; such 
applications are not subject to a means or merit test and almost all are granted.  
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
24 
 
Figure 12: Trends in overall legal help/controlled legal representation and civil 
representation, Jan-Mar 2013 to Jan-Mar 2016 
 
Civil representation and overall court volumes 
Figure 13 shows the number of certificates granted for legally-aided civil representation (see 
table 6.2) and the number of hearings and trials overall from court data, with figures from the 
latest release of Civil Justice Statistics quarterly (table 1.6). The trends were broadly similar 
until the implementation of LASPO, when there were large reductions in civil representation 
workload.  
However, in the last few quarters, as civil representation workload has stabilised, there are 
signs that the trends are becoming similar again. More certificates are granted than the final 
number of hearings and trials as not all claims will reach court and each case can have 
multiple legal aid certificates covering multiple parties in the case. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
25 
 
Figure 13: Trends in civil representation and overall court workload - legal aid certificates 
granted and total number of hearings and trials, Jan-Mar 2013 to Jan-Mar 2016 
 
Civil legal aid by category of law (Tables 5.1 - 6.7) 
A range of categories of law are covered within the scope of civil legal aid. Legal aid may be 
available for benefit appeals, debt (if your home is at risk), special educational needs, 
housing, discrimination issues, help and advice if you are a victim of domestic violence or 
issues involving a child being taken into care. A full list of the type of work contained within 
each category is given under ‘civil’ in the glossary in the User guide to legal aid statistics.  
Figure 14 shows the volume of completed work and the associated expenditure for each 
area of civil legal aid over the latest 12-month period, combining both legal help and civil 
representation. Although workloads are spread fairly evenly across categories, in 
expenditure terms family public law is by far the largest area of civil legal aid. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
26 
 
Figure 14: Civil legal aid volumes and expenditure by category of law, April 15 to March 16 
 
Notes:  Figures are a combination of legal help / controlled legal representation matters started and 
civil representation certificates granted, and have been rounded so may not sum to totals. The figure 
for family mediation is not included within the Family (private) total and excludes mediation 
information and assessment meetings (MIAMs). Figures also exclude housing possession court duty 
scheme and telephone operator service volumes and expenditure. 

 
 
27 
 
Family 
The category of family legal aid covers work on both private and public family law and 
includes work associated with the Children Act, domestic abuse, financial provision and 
family mediation.  
Public family law is one of the most important components of legal aid, accounting for more 
than half of civil legal aid expenditure and more than a quarter of all legal aid expenditure. 
Public family cases may deal with issuing Care and Supervision Orders to protect vulnerable 
children and are primarily driven by the issuing of proceedings by individual Local 
Authorities. They are, for the majority, non-means and merits tested and the LAA has no 
control over the volume of these cases.  
The LASPO Act removed many areas of civil law from the scope of legal aid, including some 
areas of private family law, and there was a large decrease in family legal help workload 
following its implementation. This now appears to have stabilised, but new matter starts in 
January to March 2016 were 18% lower than the same quarter of 2015. Civil 
representation fell less sharply following LASPO, and the trend subsequently levelled out. 
In recent quarters this has increased by 12%, largely due to an increase in public law family 
certificates (figure 15).  
Some areas of family legal aid, in particular domestic violence and public family law, were 
not affected by scope changes in the LASPO Act and so did not show large decreases in 
volume when the Act was introduced. In public family law the civil representation workload 
has increased recently, with 16% more certificates granted in Special Children Act and other 
public law Children Act proceedings in January to March 2016 than in the same period of the 
previous year (table 6.2). Legal help matters completed in family public law decreased by 
5% over this period (table 5.2). Public family workloads in civil representation and legal help 
are higher than before the LASPO Act was introduced.  
Figure 15: Family workload: legal help and civil representation, Jan-Mar 2013 to Jan-Mar 
2016 
 
Note: overall workload has been calculated by adding legal help matters started and civil 
representation certificated granted. 

 
 
28 
 
Family mediation  
Family mediation (Tables 7.1 – 7.2) involves an independent and impartial professionally 
accredited mediator discussing problems with a divorcing or separating couple. The process 
is cheaper and quicker than using the courts and it also allows for a more flexible approach.  
Changes in legislation during April 2014 mean that most divorcing couples must now attend 
a mediation assessment before a matter can go to court. If an agreement cannot be reached 
through mediation alone, then some arrangements can be decided by a court order.  
A mediation assessment, sometimes also known as a MIAM (Mediation Information and 
Assessment Meeting), is an initial meeting between one or both parties and a mediator. The 
aim of the meeting is to see if mediation could be used to resolve the issue, rather than 
going straight to court.   
The number of MIAMs fell sharply after the introduction of LASPO in April 2013. Since then 
MIAMs have fluctuated and were down by 14% in the last quarter compared to the previous 
year, but appear to be stabilising at around half of pre-LASPO levels (see figure 16). Parties 
can attend mediation assessment meetings alone, separately or together.  The majority of 
couples attend assessment meetings separately (see table 7.1). 
Figure 16: Family mediation assessments, starts and agreements Jan-Mar 2013 to Jan-Mar 
2016 
 
It is not possible from the data held by the LAA to track a family’s progress through the 
various stages of mediation. Although the number of mediations reaching each stage within 
a time period can be reported, it cannot be determined from a given set of assessments 
what proportion of them led to starts, or what proportion of starts led to agreements.    
Nevertheless it appears that, while the number of mediation starts initially fell by a similar 
proportion to assessments following LASPO, starts have recovered somewhat and are now 
around 60% of pre-LASPO levels.   

 
 
29 
 
Family mediation can be used to resolve issues to do with children or property and finance 
following divorce or separation, and the ‘all issues’ category describes mediations which deal 
with both areas.  The children category consistently accounts for the majority of starts, 
comprising 65% of all mediation starts from April 2015 to March 2016 (this information is 
taken from the more detailed data published alongside this bulletin).  
Mediations can either break down or result in an agreement. Like other areas of mediation 
agreements fell following LASPO. They have since stabilised at about 60% of pre-LASPO 
levels (see figure 16). 
Mediations in the ‘all issues’ category can reach full agreement, where agreement is reached 
on all issues, or partial agreement, wherein an agreement has been reached on either 
children or property and finance, but not both. As such, successful agreements include both 
partial agreements and full agreements.  Over the last year 62% of all mediation outcomes 
involved successful agreements. The rate of success varied between different categories of 
mediation, with the highest proportion of agreements (66%) in the children category (this 
information is taken from the more detailed data published alongside this bulletin).  
 
Non-family 
Following the implementation of LASPO the non-family area of civil legal help has reduced 
and some areas of law have fallen out of scope. 
Mental Health 
Within mental health the majority of funding is spent on providing assistance to sectioned 
clients appealing the terms of their detention before a mental health tribunal. Although a 
distinct level of funding, controlled legal representation, which relates to representation at the 
Mental Health Tribunal, is here reported alongside legal help. 
There is a statutory duty to provide advice and representation in these cases, and they are 
funded without reference to a client's means. The number of providers carrying out this work 
is small compared with some other categories. Providers have to travel to discrete NHS and 
private hospital locations to advise high priority detained clients. More information on mental 
health tribunals is available on the gov.uk website https://www.gov.uk/mental-health-
tribunal/overview 
Mental health workload increased by 14% over the 2 years to October to December 2014, 
but fell by 7% when comparing the latest quarter to the previous year (see figure 17). Most of 
this reduction is due to the exit from the legal aid market of the largest provider of mental 
health legal help and controlled legal representation in summer 2015. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
30 
 
Figure 17: Workload in mental health, Jan-Mar 2013 to Jan-Mar 2016 
 
Note: workload has been calculated by adding legal help / controlled legal representation 
matters started and civil representation certificated granted. 
Immigration 
The LASPO Act, which came into effect on 1 April 2013 made changes to the scope of legal 
aid for immigration law, but some areas remained in scope. These include asylum, 
immigration-detention, victims of trafficking or domestic violence, and judicial review. 
Although a distinct level of funding, controlled legal representation, which relates to 
representation at the Immigration and Asylum Tribunal at the First-tier-Tribunal (FTT) and 
Upper-tier-Tribunal (UTT), is reported alongside legal help. 
The volume of legally aided immigration cases halved between April to June 2012 and April 
to June 2013.  
This fall was primarily caused by the removal from scope under the LASPO Act of nationality 
and visit visas work. Although this category cannot be separately identified within data on 
civil representation, legal help and controlled legal representation data show that new matter 
starts for this type of work fell from more than 5,000 to just a few cases in each quarter 
following the introduction of the LASPO Act.  
The 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 the asylum 
category stood 3% lower in the January to March 2016 quarter than in the same quarter of 
the previous year (see figure 18). 
 
 

 
 
31 
 
Figure 18: Workload in immigration, Jan-Mar 2013 to Jan-Mar 2016 
 
Note: workload has been calculated by adding legal help / controlled legal representation 
matters started and civil representation certificated granted. 
 
Housing 
In April 2013 the LASPO Act made changes to the scope of legal aid for housing issues, but 
some areas remain in scope. These include cases where there is serious disrepair or 
homelessness and possession proceedings.  
 
The volume of legally-aided housing cases halved between July to September 2012 and July 
to September 2013 (see figure 19). In January to March 2016 there was a 17% decrease 
compared to the same quarter the previous year. Workload figures in this category of law are 
driven by legal help, which comprises more than 80% of overall housing legal aid volume. 
 
 
 

 
 
32 
 
Figure 19: Workload in housing law, Jan-Mar 2013 to Jan-Mar 2016 
 
 
Note: workload calculated using legal help matters started and civil representation 
certificates granted. 
Other non-family 
Figure 20 below shows the civil legal aid workload in areas of law other than family, mental 
health, immigration and housing. These tend to have much lower volumes of work, with the 
majority of proceedings within these categories removed from the scope of legal aid by the 
introduction of the LASPO  
Figure 20: Non-family workload: legal help and civil representation, Jan-Mar 2015 to Jan-
Mar 2016 
 
 
Jan-Mar 
2015
Apr-Jun 
2015
Jul-Sep 
2015
Oct-Dec 
2015
Jan-Mar 
2016
Actions against the police etc.
699
719
661
659
751
Clinical negligence
56
111
80
114
89
Community care
1,191
1,258
813
819
870
Consumer
0
0
0
0
0
Debt
299
271
196
154
119
Discrimination
423
441
366
268
347
Education
477
436
431
387
476
Employment
2
2
0
3
14
Miscellaneous
78
189
212
174
185
Personal injury
1
12
10
13
2
Public law
520
521
609
649
605
Welfare benefits
75
65
51
65
77
Other Non-family
3,821
4,025
3,429
3,305
3,535
     

 
 
33 
 
 
Note: workload has been calculated by adding legal help matters started and civil 
representation certificates granted. A longer time series for legal help new matter starts can 
be found in table 5.1 and for civil representation certificates granted in table 6.2. 
Civil legal aid subcategories 
Legal help telephone service 
Figure 21 shows the nature of the legal help telephone service. The first point of contact for 
a client is usually the telephone operator service. This service diagnoses a client’s case 
which, if it is potentially in scope and the client is financially eligible, is forwarded on to a 
specialist provider.  
Between April 2015 and March 2016, 19% of telephone operator cases were referred to the 
specialist telephone service for advice, where a specialist then assessed whether the matter 
should be started, or instead determined (for example because it is subsequently deemed 
out of scope, lacks merits or the client has failed to provide evidence). Those which resulted 
in a matter being started are included within overall legal help figures in Tables 5.1 – 5.3. 
The remaining 81% of cases were dealt with entirely by the operator service. In such 
instances the client is referred to a face-to-face legal help provider, an alternative helpline or 
offered self-help resources.  
Figure 21: Workload in telephone service, April 2015 to March 2016 
 
Note:  Figures have been rounded so may not sum to totals. 
 

 
 
34 
 
Judicial reviews 
Legal aid for judicial reviews takes the form of civil representation and can cover all 
categories of civil law. Applications for legal aid for judicial reviews are made by those 
requiring assistance in challenging a government decision. 
Of all civil representation applications granted, only a small number, fewer than 5,000 a year, 
relate to judicial review. The number granted in Jan-Mar 2016 was 18% higher than in the 
same quarter in 2015 and driven by an increase immigration judicial reviews. 
The CSV file of more detailed figures published alongside this document additionally 
includes figures for applications, applications granted, and outcomes (showing whether the 
case is considered a judicial review).  
Figure 22: Judicial Review applications granted by category, Jan-Mar 2015 to Jan-Mar 2016 
 
 
Applications for civil representation legal aid in private family law cases on the 
basis of evidence of domestic violence or child abuse 
With effect from April 2013, the LASPO Act removed legal aid for most private family law 
including issues such as contact or divorce. However, legal aid remains available for such 
cases where there is a risk of domestic violence or child abuse. Applicants are granted legal 
aid funding for these cases if they can prove the incidence or risk of domestic violence or 
child abuse through a range of prescribed forms of evidence.  
Between 1 April 2013 and 31 March 2016 the Legal Aid Agency received 22,355 such 
applications. During this same period 14,726 certificates were granted (see Figure 23).  
6.8 and 6.9 of the Tables published alongside this report provide detailed figures on this type 
of application. The majority of applications cite evidence relating to domestic violence. Most 
of the remainder cite evidence relating to child abuse, but for a minority of applications the 
evidence category is unknown or unclear from the data held for reporting purposes.  
In response to feedback from users, we have introduced a second way of presenting figures 
on the granting of certificates for civil representation. In the original presentation, grants are 
shown against the period in which the decision was made and recorded (see table 6.9) – this 
can be referred to as ‘decision-based timing’. In the newer presentation, grants are also 
Category
Jan-Mar 
2015
Apr-Jun 
2015
Jul-Sep 
2015
Oct-Dec 
2015
Jan-Mar 
2016
Actions against the police etc.
2
4
4
1
1
Community care
132
131
145
129
151
Debt
0
1
0
0
0
Education
5
6
3
4
3
Housing
136
150
142
151
134
Immigration
314
314
385
403
420
Mental health
5
4
2
2
3
Miscellaneous
20
24
15
18
13
Other public law Children Act proceedings
0
6
0
3
1
Public law
208
243
302
284
247
Welfare Benefits
0
3
0
1
1
Judicial Review total
822
886
998
996
974

 
 
35 
 
shown against the period in which the application to which they relate was made – this will 
be referred to as ‘application-based timing’ (shown alongside applications in table 6.8). Each 
way has advantages and disadvantages for the user: the former shows more accurately the 
timing of new workload entering the system, while the latter enables the calculation of the 
proportion of applications in a given period that were granted. We would welcome further 
feedback from users on this addition via the contact details in Annex A.  
There has been a steady upward trend both in applications and numbers of certificates 
granted, with the number granted during January to March 2016 (on decision-based timing) 
25% higher than the same period of the previous year (see table 6.9).  
The proportion of applications granted has remained steady at around 70% since the 
inception of this type of application, with the latest quarter at 73% (see table 6.8).  
Figure 23: Applications, and certificates granted (decision-based timing) for civil 
representation legal aid in private family law cases on the basis of evidence of domestic 
violence or child abuse, Apr-Jun 2013 to Jan-Mar 2016 
 
 

 
 
36 
 
Exceptional case funding 
Under some circumstances clients can get civil legal aid even though their case is not in 
scope. This is known as Exceptional Case Funding (ECF) and these cases are dealt with by 
an ECF team within the LAA. See Tables 8.1 and 8.2 for detailed figures on ECF. 
The ECF scheme was introduced from 1 April 2013 as part the Legal Aid Sentencing and 
Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO).  
An ECF application for civil legal services is made where a case falls outside the scope of 
civil legal aid but the client or conducting solicitor believes there is a requirement to provide 
funding.  This is because failure to do so would be a breach of the Human Rights Act 1998, 
or any rights of the individual to the provision of legal services that are enforceable EU 
rights.  
An ECF determination can generally only be granted if: 
 
the means criteria are met (this relates to the client’s financial eligibility), and  
 
the standard legal aid merits criteria are met (this relates to the likelihood of the 
client being successful), and  
 
the exceptional case criteria detailed above are met. 
There is discretion to waive the means eligibility limits relating to inquests if, in all the 
circumstances, it would not be reasonable to expect the family to bear the full costs of legal 
assistance at the inquest. This will depend on factors such as the history of the case, the 
applicant’s assessed disposable income and capital and the estimated costs of providing 
representation.  
More information on the means and merits criteria can be found on the gov.uk website 
https://www.gov.uk/work-out-who-qualifies-for-civil-legal-aid 
Unlike other legal aid applications, clients can make ECF applications directly to the LAA.  If 
the ECF application sent directly by the client is assessed as being eligible for ECF funding, 
their application may be granted subject to them finding a legal aid provider to act for them. 
As a result of litigation discussed later in this chapter, a client can now be awarded a grant 
straight away whereas prior to 27 July 2015 this decision was only preliminary (termed a 
positive preliminary view or ‘PPV’).  
More information on ECF and the procedure for applying as an individual can be found on 
the gov.uk website https://www.gov.uk/legal-aid-apply-for-exceptional-case-funding 
Applications 
There were 390 applications for ECF received between January and March 2016. This is 
over a fifth higher than the number received during the equivalent period of 2015, and the 
highest in a singular quarter since Oct-Dec 13.  
91% of ECF applications received from January to March 2016 were new. The remaining 35 
applications were re-submitted for review; this is a case which has previously been rejected 
or refused ECF funding and has been resubmitted by the client for reconsideration. The 
proportion of applications received this quarter which were reviews is the joint lowest it has 

 
 
37 
 
ever been, the same as last quarter (see Figure 24). This may be a result of the increasing 
proportion of applications that have been granted in recent quarters. 
Figure 24: Volume of ECF applications received, new or review, Apr-Jun 13 to Jan-Mar 16. 
 
For the 355 new applications, the average turnaround time for assessment during January to 
March 2016 was 13 working days, against a target of 20 (see figure 25). The average 
turnaround time for reviews in this period was 8 working days, against a target of 10. These 
figures do not take into account recent changes to targets for specific application types 5.  
The average turnaround time excludes cases currently awaiting assessment as of 31 May 
2016.  
The turnaround time for each ECF application starts on the date it is received by the LAA 
ECF team and finishes on the day a decision over the case is made. This excludes 
weekends, bank holidays and time spent waiting for further information from the applicant. 
This might be financial information to support the means assessment, for example. 
This quarter, 70 ECF applications (18%) were made directly by the client, which is the 
highest proportion in a quarter since the scheme began and double the proportion this time 
last year. The remaining 320 applications (82%) were submitted by legal aid providers. The 
increased volume of direct client applications may be a result of simplifications brought in to 
the ECF application form, implemented in response to the judicial review mentioned below.  
 
 
 
                                                 
5 As a result of the Judicial Review, certain cases may be treated as urgent with shorter targets. 

 
 
38 
 
Figure 25: ECF application turnaround time, new and review, Apr-Jun 13 to Jan-Mar 16. 
 
 
Determinations 
Applications that are not withdrawn by the client can receive three different determinations: 
rejected, refused or granted (PPV if submitted by an individual prior to 27 July 2015). For an 
application to be granted it must meet the three appropriate criteria detailed at the beginning 
of the chapter. Applications may be refused if they do not meet these criteria.  
Rejected applications differ in that they do not get to the stage where they would be 
assessed against the means and merit criteria.  This will be because they are either: 
 
in scope (eligible) for legal aid, 
 
an incomplete application, or 
 
“other” which encompasses issues such as the timeliness of submission and eligibility for 
review 
Of the 390 ECF applications received between January and March 2016, 370 (95%) were 
determined by the LAA as of 31 May 2016, with the remaining 20 awaiting assessment. A 
further 20 applications remain awaiting a determination from earlier quarters. 
 
 

 
 
39 
 
The number and proportion of ECF applications being granted has generally been increasing 
since the scheme was first introduced in April 2013 (see figure 26). Between January and 
March 2016, over half of all applications that were determined by 31 May 2016 were granted 
(54%). This is slightly lower than last quarter, although this may increase with subsequent 
revisions when the awaiting applications are determined. This is 34 percentage points higher 
than the proportion granted in the same period of last year.  
In this same period, a quarter of applications were refused and just under a fifth were 
rejected. The number and proportion of ECF applications being refused has generally been 
falling since 2013, while rejections have remained relatively steady.  
 
Figure 26: ECF determinations by outcome, Apr-Jun 2013 to Jan-Mar 2016. 
 
Changes in relation to court judgements  
On 13 June 2014, judgment was handed down in the case of Gudanaviciene and others v 
Director of Legal Aid Casework [2014] EWHC 1840 (Admin). The claimants, who were each 
seeking to challenge various immigration decisions, argued that they should have been 
granted legal aid under the exceptional case funding regime. The court found that the level 
required to justify legal aid was set too high and as a result the threshold for meeting the 
ECF merits criteria for immigration cases was lowered.  
On 15 July 2015, judgement was also handed down in the case of IS; a judicial review 
challenging the operation of the ECF scheme. The court found that there was “unacceptable 
risk” that the ECF scheme was not able to provide legal aid in those instances where failure 
to do so would be a breach of the Human Rights Act 1998, or any rights of the individual to 
the provision of legal services that are enforceable EU rights, and that the Civil Legal Aid 
(Merits Criteria) Regulations 2013 were unlawful. This judgement was appealed at the Court 
of Appeal in March 2016. In May 2016, the court upheld that the LAA regulations were 

 
 
40 
 
lawful, contrary to the initial judgement. This does not affect the published period, where 
applications with a ‘poor’ or ‘borderline’ prospect of success would have been considered for 
funding.  The impact of this may have contributed to the high volume of grants this quarter. 
Applications and determinations by category of law 
Of the ECF applications received between January and March 2016, immigration (40%), 
family (28%), and inquest (16%) remained the most requested categories of law (figure 27).  
Over the past year, the number of inquest applications as a proportion of the total received 
has decreased,  whereas immigration applications have increased. 
The impact of the first court judgement discussed above can be seen in the figures, with a 
much higher proportion of ECF immigration applications granted since that judgement (see 
table 8.2). Almost three quarters of all immigration applications from January to March 2016 
were granted, the highest proportion for any category of law.  
Figure 27: ECF determinations by category of law, Jan-Mar 2016. 
 
 
 
Category of law
Awaiting Granted Refused Rejected Withdrawn
Total
Immigration
1
115
19
19
2
156
         
Family
2
46
39
21
1
109
         
Inquest
13
35
10
3
1
62
           
Other
3
3
20
22
5
53
           
Housing/Land Law
1
1
3
2
0
7
             
Welfare Benefits
0
1
1
1
0
3
             
Grand Total
20
201
92
68
9
390
         

 
 
41 
 
Appeals and representations 
Appeals 
There are two main types of appeal relating to decisions on the award of public funding for 
legal aid: funding appeals and cost assessments. 
Funding Appeals  
These are appeals against determinations made by the LAA. They include reviews and full 
appeals against determinations on whether a client qualifies for legal aid, scope decisions or 
the extent of funding granted for a case. 
For civil representation, individuals have the statutory right to formal review by LAA on 
financial (means) or legal (merits) grounds for all decisions. Some decisions also carry the 
further statutory right to appeal if the result of the internal review is deemed unsatisfactory. 
This right to appeal simply applies for legal grounds; means decisions only carry the right to 
review. 
The civil representation funding appeals process begins in the first instance with an internal 
review which must be submitted within 14 days of the determination notification. If the 
original decision is upheld and the individual is still not satisfied, then they may have their 
case referred to an Independent Funding Adjudicator (IFA) if eligible. Decisions which 
involve means or whether a case is within scope do not have right of appeal.  
The IFA is required to consider the appeal and return their recommendation. The verdict of 
the IFA is binding on the LAA in certain issues regarding appeals of decisions about whether 
the client qualifies for legal aid. These include assessments on the prospect of success and 
the calculated ratio of costs to benefits of the proceedings. 
Figures in this bulletin include volumes of legal appeals against initial civil representation 
applications and civil representation amendments. Data are available on the category of law 
of the certificate that is being appealed, and the outcome of this appeal. Figures are 
published against the date the final decision was made by the LAA. 
As figure 28 illustrates, volumes fell sharply as a result of LASPO, which caused civil 
representation volumes in general to drop (Figure 13). There were 11% fewer total civil 
representation legal appeals in 2015-16 compared to 2014-15. However, since October to 
December 2015, total civil representation appeals have been slowly increasing; the volume 
of appeals in January to March 2016 was 29% higher than the same quarter in 2015. 
37% of appeals against decisions on initial applications for civil representation in relation to 
family cases were granted in 2015-16. The equivalent figure for non-family applications was 
10%. For amendments, the proportion of appeals granted was 36% for family cases and 
37% for non-family. 
The family category for which the highest proportion of appeals against decisions on initial 
applications were granted was Special Children Act cases (87%). The most common type of 
appeal against an initial application was for Private Law Children Act Proceedings, where 
27% were granted. 

 
 
42 
 
Figure 28: Volumes of legal appeals against decisions on civil representation initial 
applications and appeals, Apr-Jun 2013 to Jan-Mar 2016. 
 
More detailed figures for appeals against civil representation determinations are provided in 
Table 10.1, where appeals against initial applications are broken down by category of law. 
Corresponding figures on appeals against amendments can be found in the CSV file of more 
detailed data file published alongside this bulletin. 
Cost assessment 
Also known as a billing appeal, this is where a legal aid provider wishes to appeal the 
decision of the LAA relating to the cost of contract work, and so may submit an appeal for a 
costs assessment. In a similar process to funding appeals, the matter will first go to internal 
review and then it may be referred to an Independent Costs Assessor (ICA) who may decide 
to confirm, increase or decrease the amount assessed. These data are recorded on a 
National Appeals tracker as the current data systems do not capture this information reliably. 
It is hoped that future publications may be able to include figures in this area. 
Interests of Justice (IOJ) appeals 
There are two stages of IOJ appeal; administrative in the first instance and then judicial 
review. If the administrative IOJ appeal is refused, applicants have the right to further appeal 
through a judicial review which is referred to the Magistrates’ court for consideration. There 
may be multiple adminstrative appeals but the judicial review result is final. Figures on IOJ 
appeals have not been included in this publication but may be requested. 
 
 

 
 
43 
 
Representations 
When legal aid funding is granted to an individual, their opponents or other third parties may 
make representations against the grant of legal aid or continuation of funding. 
Representations may be made concerning the legal merits of the case, the financial means 
of the applicant, or both. Detailed figures are presented in Table 10.2, with further detail 
published in CSV format alongside this bulletin. 
The representations process may be lengthier than the appeals process, as some cases 
require collating large amounts of evidence. Where the result of the representations decision 
is that a certificate is withdrawn, this determination may be subject to appeal to IFA. 
The volume of representations closed out in 2015-16 was 32% lower than in the previous 
year (Figure 29). 33% of the closed representations concerned the financial means of the 
applicant, 57% were regarding the legal merits of the case and the remaining 9% were for 
both.  
Figure 29: Volume of representations closed out in the given financial year, by type,  
2006-07 to 2015-16. 
 
 

 
 
44 
 
Legal aid providers 
Legal aid services in England and Wales are delivered through solicitor firms, Not-for-Profit 
organisations, telephone operators and barristers who are contracted by the LAA to do legal 
aid work. The legal aid schemes require various types of contract covering different types of 
work. To find a provider with an active contract in your area, follow this link, http://find-legal-
advice.justice.gov.uk/ 
This chapter presents the number of providers who have completed work and received 
associated payments from the LAA in any given quarter or financial year, rather than the 
number of providers who hold contracts to provide legal aid. The intention of this is to focus 
on numbers of active providers and on how legal aid work is distributed among them, and so 
enable analysis of the legal aid market.  
A provider may consist of a large firm with several offices around the country or a single 
office location at which one or more individuals are based. The primary unit used in this 
section is the provider office. For many advocates and some others this will in fact mean a 
single individual. This is the unit by which most billing and payment for legal aid work is 
conducted, and these are the administrative processes from which the statistics in this 
chapter are derived. 
User consultation response 
In the previous Legal Aid Statistics bulletin we asked users to share with us their views on 
the provider section in particular. We heard from two legal aid provider firms, two provider 
representative bodies and colleagues from around the MoJ and LAA. We have also taken 
into account user feedback received prior to this specific consultation period. The following is 
a summary of the views expressed and our responses: 
 
Most respondents felt that the introduction of the provider section had been a 
valuable addition to the statistics, but that it could be made more valuable with some 
changes. 
 
Most respondents welcomed the inclusion of provider names alongside the figures, 
as enabling further analysis of the market and enhancing the transparency of the 
legal aid system. One group of users was concerned however that, for certain areas 
of civil law, the inclusion of provider names could increase the likelihood that costs 
could be linked to individual cases and that this could put providers and clients at 
increased risk of receiving unwanted attention or harassment. In response, we have 
included provider names in the more detailed dataset published alongside this 
bulletin to enhance the value of the statistics but, within the figures on workloads, 
individual cells with small numbers of cases have been suppressed to mitigate the 
risk described.  
 
Some users emphasised the importance that the expenditure figures in the provider 
section should be accompanied by clear explanation to avoid any misunderstanding 
that they represent providers’ net income or ‘take-home’ pay. On a related point, one 
group of users wanted the VAT element of payments to providers separately 
identified for criminal advocates. In response, in this edition we have broken down 
expenditure on payments to providers in more detail as described later in this 
chapter. This includes showing VAT separately in payments to criminal advocates in 
the more detailed provider dataset. 

 
 
45 
 
 
Several users said that the value of the provider section would be enhanced by the 
addition of a local authority level geographic breakdown as this would facilitate 
comparison with other related statistics. We agreed, and in this edition we have 
added a local authority breakdown to the more detailed provider dataset. 
 
One group of users asked that the tables and the more detailed dataset include more 
detailed breakdowns of the areas of the legal aid system in which providers are 
working. In response in this edition we have increased the detail shown on providers 
of criminal legal aid in table 9.1 and added Tables 9.3 and 9.4 to present more detail 
on numbers of providers working in civil representation and legal help respectively. 
We will continue to look at ways of publishing more detailed data in future. 
 
Some users asked that the frequency with which statistics on legal aid providers is 
published be increased. We will take this into account in prioritising our resources. 
 
Tables 9.1 to 9.4 present summary figures and alongside these a CSV file with more 
detailed data published alongside this bulletin provides, at the provider office level, the name 
and category of each provider, the volume of each type of legal aid work completed in each 
quarterly period and the associated expenditure.  
In this edition we have increased the detail provided on expenditure associated with for civil 
legal aid, with the total amounts broken down into on disbursements, counsel fees, solicitor 
profit costs and, if applicable, the portion of the cost that was met by the opponent. In 
criminal legal aid, alongside the total amount paid, expenditure is further broken down by 
total VAT element, disbursements, counsel and litigator expenditure.  
Data from a variety of sources held by the LAA was combined to produce these statistics. 
For more information on data sources, quality and usage can be found in the User Guide to 
Legal Aid Statistics. 
The timing with which a completed piece of work and the total payment, or expenditure, 
associated with it are reported are based on the point at which the final payment for that 
piece of work was authorised by the LAA.  
This means that the figures for a given period may include the value of work conducted in 
earlier periods, and similarly the value of any work that providers may have undertaken 
during the period on cases which have not yet completed will not be included. It is important 
to consider this when using these statistics because many more complex pieces of work, for 
example in Civil Representation or the Crown Court, can last for several years. 
The expenditure presented in these statistics represents total legal aid fee payments. It is 
not equivalent to providers’ profits, earnings or take-home pay. Most providers must pay 
taxes such as VAT and meet professional costs and other overheads, similar to businesses 
and self-employed individuals in many other industries. All providers listed in this analysis 
are included because they completed and were paid for at least some legal aid funded work 
in the period covered. Any provider may work full-time on legal aid funded work, may 
combine it with other work not covered by these statistics, such as private work, or otherwise 
work part-time. The figures exclude payments to the named firm in some instances where 
the claim included work undertaken by others on their behalf.  
The amount attributed to an advocate may include payments subsequently made to other 
advocates as remuneration for work carried out on behalf of the named advocate. Likewise, 
the figures exclude payment to an advocate when they have carried out work on behalf of an 
instructed colleague. This Instructed Advocate scheme is designed to allow the lead barrister 
being paid control of the case and fee. There are scenarios where the Instructed Advocate 
may have no control of the case and fee, for example when the legal team is changed, and 
although they ultimately make the claim the proportion of the fee they received can be small. 

 
 
46 
 
Payments are made only after the claims are scrutinised and possibly adjusted leading to 
payments in a different financial year subsequently and payments to a provider office may 
include recoupments against previous payments leading to an overall negative payment. 
All providers  
Figure 30 shows the number of provider offices who have received claim expenditure from 
the LAA for work done between April to June 2012 and January to March 2016. It shows a 
gradual fall in the number of provider offices for both crime and civil work, although the fall 
has been greater for civil (down 13%) than for crime (down 8%) when comparing the latest 
quarter to the same quarter a year ago.  
Figure 30: Civil and crime provider offices Apr-Jun 2012 to Jan-Mar 2016. 
 
Civil providers  
The large majority of civil provider offices are solicitor firms and the remainder are Not-for-
Profit organisations. Their legal aid work comprises legal help, mediation and civil 
representation. 
Figure 31 shows that numbers of solicitor firm provider offices completing legal help and civil 
representation work began falling before the introduction of the LASPO Act and this trend 
has continued since then. The number of provider offices completing mediation work has 
increased over the two years following the LASPO Act but has declined in the last financial 
year.  
These trends in provider numbers broadly match the trends in workload shown in the civil 
legal aid chapter of this bulletin. 

 
 
47 
 
Figure 31: Number of Solicitor firm provider offices by category of civil legal aid work, Apr-
Jun 2012 to Jan-Mar 2016. 
 
The number of Not-for-Profit providers working in legal help has followed a similar downward 
trend over the last four years but in contrast the number providing civil representation has 
increased slightly following the LASPO Act but has declined in the last two financial years 
(Figure 33). 
 
 

 
 
48 
 
Figure 32: Number of Not-for-Profit provider offices by category of civil legal aid work, Apr-
Jun 2012 to Jan-Mar 2016. 
 
Crime providers 
The schemes through which criminal legal aid is provided are the Advocate Graduated Fee 
Scheme (covering barristers and higher solicitor advocates), the Crime Lower scheme 
(covering police station work, magistrates’ court and prison law), the Litigator Graduated Fee 
Scheme (for solicitor firms) and finally the high cost cases scheme for the Crown Court 
covering both solicitor firms and advocates. Where payment is made under the non-panel 
agreement to an advocate this expenditure is assigned to the firm under contract and not the 
advocate. 
For crime overall there has been a steady but gradual downward trend in numbers of 
provider offices completing work, with an 18% fall between April to June 2012 and January 
to March 2016.  This has been fairly similar across all criminal legal aid schemes (see Figure 
33). 
 
 

 
 
49 
 
Figure 33: Number of provider ofices by category of criminal legal aid work, Apr-Jun 2012 to 
Jan-Mar 2016. 
 
 
Providers by region 
All figures provided in the publication on the geographic breakdown of legal aid are based on 
the provider office location and not the location of the client. A provider may serve clients 
from other geographic areas as well as that in which the office is located.  
Figures for further breakdowns of completed work and expenditure by area of law and local 
authority area are available from the more detailed provider data. Particular caution should 
be exercised when interpreting the geographic distribution shown in this data because it 
reflects only the location of the provider office. This means that it cannot be used as a 
reliable indicator of the distribution of the clients or benefits of legal aid, or to infer a precise 
picture of coverage of legal aid services. This is especially true at the more detailed local 
authority area breakdown. For example, although figures can be used at the regional level to 
show volume and expenditure on work done by providers based in Wales, it cannot be used 
to infer a detailed picture of local provision or coverage of legal aid services within Wales, or 
a precise measure of the proportion of legal aid funding that is spent in Wales.  
The four maps below (figures 34 – 37) show the number of civil provider split between 
solicitor firm and Not-for-Profit organisation and the number of litigator and advocate crime 
providers for the latest financial year, together with the change since the previous year. 
Figures 34 – 37 show that across the 4 different types of provider office, most are 
concentrated in regions of high population. Looking at the year-on-year change in each 
region, the downward trends in provider numbers shown above appear fairly evenly 
distributed across the 12 regions. 
 

 
 
50 
 
Figure 34: Number of solicitor firms in England and Wales who 
received payment for civil work completed during 2015-16 
 
Figure 35: Number of Not-for-Profit organisations in England and 
Wales receiving payment for civil work completed during 2015-16 
 

 
 
51 
 
Figure 36: Number of litigators in England and Wales who received 
payment for criminal work completed during 2015-16 
Figure 37: Number of advocates in England and Wales who received 
payment for criminal work completed during 2015-16 
 
 
 

 
 
52 
 
Client characteristics 
Client characteristics  
The charts below show the breakdown of client protected characteristics for all areas of legal 
aid, compared with the national breakdown from the 2011 census data from the Office for 
National Statistics6. This information is provided against the date the case was closed for all 
areas except for crime higher and magistrates’ court age, which use the date the legal 
funding was granted. Mediation characteristics are for those clients who received full 
mediation only, not MIAMs. 
Gender 
The gender profile of criminal legal aid clients in 2015-16 differs from the national profile with 
a much greater proportion of male clients (Figure 38). This reflects the picture across the 
criminal justice system as a whole7 and has been consistent throughout the past 4 years for 
which data are published. The only change has been the proportion of unknowns in Crown 
Court data decreasing. 
The gender profile of civil legal aid clients in 2015-16 broadly matches the general 
population for mediation and legal help. Civil representation clients have a slightly greater 
proportion of female clients (58%). Between 2012-13 and 2015-16, the proportion of female 
legal help clients has been decreasing slightly comparative to male clients (down 8 
percentage points over 4 years). 
 
Figure 38: Proportion of legal aid clients in 2015-16 by gender  
 
                                                 
6 Unrounded estimates of the usually resident population by age and sex, along with household 
estimates on census day, 27 March 2011 
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/20
11censuspopulationestimatesbysingleyearofageandsexforlocalauthoritiesintheunitedkingdom  
7 MOJ, Criminal Justice statistics quarterly: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-
justice/series/criminal-justice-statistics  

 
 
53 
 
Disability 
Figure 39 shows the proportion of legal aid clients who reported to have a disability. It is 
difficult to draw firm conclusions for most categories of legal aid on this characteristic 
because of the relatively high proportion of unknowns, especially for crime lower and civil 
representation.  
Nevertheless, it can still be concluded that legal help has a higher proportion of clients with 
disabilities than the general population. This probably reflects the fact that mental health 
controlled legal representation work is included within legal help; in 2015-16, individuals with 
a mental health condition made up 22% of the total number of legal help clients, and 74% of 
those reporting a disability. This is not available in the published data, but more detailed 
disability data can be requested for some areas. 
The overall picture of client disability status changed little between 2014-15 and 2015-16, 
with the exception of crime higher where we are now seeing fewer unknowns in the data. 
This has allowed us for the first time to see that the proportion of legally aided clients with a 
disability in the Crown Court is higher than the general population average. 
Disability profile information was not available for mediation prior to Jan-Mar 2015, when 
reporting moved onto a new system, so in the underlying data there are only 5 quarters 
worth of information as opposed to the full 4 years for other areas. 
Figure 39: Proportion of legal aid clients in 2015-16 by disability status  
 

 
 
54 
 
Ethnicity 
Figure 40 compares the proportion of legal aid clients who are from black and minority ethnic 
(BAME) origins with the general population. It is difficult to draw firm conclusions from this 
comparison because of the relatively high proportion for which ethnicity is unknown in most 
areas.  
Nevertheless, we can see that the proportion of full mediation clients who are BAME 
corresponds with the general population. Also, the proportion of legal help clients reporting a 
black or minority ethnicity is larger than in the general population. This may partly reflect the 
fact that immigration controlled legal representation work is included within legal help.  
The proportion of legal help clients self-reporting their ethnicity as white fell from 64% in 
2012-13 to 47% in 2015-16, however the BAME proportion only rose by 6 percentage points, 
and instead the proportion of unknowns has increased during this time. 
Overall, the ethnicity profile of legal aid clients in 2015-16 is little changed compared with 
2014-15.  
Figure 40: Proportion of legal aid clients in 2015-16 by broad ethnic group  
 

 
 
55 
 
Age 
Due to the relatively small proportion of unknowns for age, these have not been included for 
this graph, but are available in the underlying client diversity data file.  
Please see the user guide for more detail about unknowns and the age classifications.  
Civil representation has greatest relative proportion of clients under the age of 18, reflecting 
the relative importance of family law (Figure 41). All other areas have a much smaller than 
average proportion of under 18 year-olds, however a much greater proportion of clients of 
criminal legal aid are from young adult age groups (aged 18-24 and 25-34) than in the 
general population which reflects the pattern across the criminal justice system as a whole  
Across all areas of legal aid, there is a much smaller proportion of over 55 year olds than the 
general population, and a much higher proportion of 35 to 54 years olds. 25-34 years olds 
form the largest proportion of clients in crime higher, magistrates’ court, legal help and 
mediaition, but not civil representation. 
The overall age profile of clients in 2015-16 is very similar to that in 2014-15. Since 2012-13, 
the largest change has been an increase in the proportion of under 18 year old in civil 
representation, from 21% in 2012-13 to 31% in 2015-16. 
Figure 41: Proportion of legal aid clients in 2015-16 by age band 
 
Notes: Age data for crime lower is taken from a different computer system to the other characteristics 
and only includes magistrates’ court work, not prison law or police station attendance work.  
In all areas except civil representation, the category “65 and over” represents ages 65-99, and those 
100 or above have been put into unknown. 
Age profile information was not available for mediation prior to Jan-Mar 2015, when reporting moved 
onto a new system, so in the underlying data there are only five quarters worth of information as 
opposed to the full four years for other areas. 

 
 
56 
 
Annex A - Contact points for further 
information 
Press enquiries on the contents of this bulletin should be directed to the Ministry of Justice 
press office: 
 
Neil Murchison 
Tel: xx-xxxx-xxxx  
Email: xxx@xxx.xx  
 
 
Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to: 
 
Richard Field, Head of Statistics 
Legal Aid Agency 
7th Floor, 102 Petty France 
London SW1H 9AJ 
Tel: xx-xxxx-xxxx 
xxx@xxx.xx 
 
 
General information about the official statistics system of the UK is available from 
www.statistics.gov.uk 

 
 
Legal Aid Statistics Quarterly January to March 2016 
 
57 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
© Crown copyright 
Produced by the Ministry of Justice 
Alternative formats are available on request from xxx@xxx.xx