Legal aid statistics England and Wales bulletin Jul to Sep 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.

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Legal Aid Statistics in 
England and Wales 
July to September 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 15 December 2016 
 
 
 

 
 
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Contents 
Introduction .............................................................................................................. 3 
Information published in this release ................................................................................ 3 
Measuring activity in the legal aid system ......................................................................... 4 
Key findings .............................................................................................................. 5 
Analysis and commentary ....................................................................................... 6 
Criminal legal aid...................................................................................................... 8 
Crime lower .................................................................................................................... 10 
Pre-charge suspects .................................................................................................... 11 
Magistrates’ court ......................................................................................................... 12 
Prison Law ................................................................................................................... 13 
Crime higher ................................................................................................................... 14 
Representations at Crown Court .................................................................................. 14 
Very High Cost Cases (VHCCs) ................................................................................... 18 
Civil legal aid .......................................................................................................... 19 
Family............................................................................................................................. 23 
Applications for civil representation in private family law supported by evidence of 
domestic abuse ............................................................................................................ 24 
Family mediation .......................................................................................................... 25 
Non-family ...................................................................................................................... 26 
Mental Health ............................................................................................................... 26 
Immigration .................................................................................................................. 27 
Housing ........................................................................................................................ 28 
Other non-family ........................................................................................................... 29 
Civil legal aid subcategories ........................................................................................... 30 
Legal help telephone service ........................................................................................ 30 
Judicial reviews ............................................................................................................ 31 
Exceptional case funding ................................................................................................ 32 
Annual updates ...................................................................................................... 36 
Appeals and representations .......................................................................................... 36 
Legal aid providers ......................................................................................................... 36 
Clients and provider characteristics ................................................................................ 37 
Other criminal legal aid ................................................................................................... 37 
Annex A - Contact points for further information................................................ 38 
 

 
 
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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 July to September 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: July to September 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 to facilitate detailed analysis using 
pivot tables, and re-use of the data using a variety of software packages. Provided in 
both .csv (comma separated values) and .ods (OpenDocument Spreadsheet) formats 
 
 
Index of data in Legal Aid statistics: An index to the more detailed data published 
in the csv and ods files, lists of available data from Legal Aid systems and guidance 
on how to work with the more detailed data using pivot tables. 
 
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 30 March 2017 
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: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/ministry-of-justice-statistics-policy-and-
procedures and details about specific revisions can be found in our user guide. 
 
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 . 

 
 
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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), 
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 changes in debt (to illustrate, the LAA’s 
income in 2015-16 was £200m and expenditure in relation to debt changes was £5m, out of 
total net programme expenditure (that is, excluding administration costs) of £1,526m).  
 
 

 
 
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Key findings 
Criminal legal aid 
1. 
Crime lower workloads continue to decline gradually in the context of falling overall 
crime rates. The latest quarter saw a 4% fall compared to the same period in the 
previous year (see figure 3).  
2. 
Expenditure on crime lower has declined 2% compared to the same period of the 
previous year. However, the suspension from April 2016 of the most recent cut to 
criminal legal aid fees has contributed to an increase in expenditure of 3% from the 
quarter prior to this change (see figure 4). 
3. 
In crime higher, new orders for legal representation in the Crown Court continue to 
decline. The volume of cases completed also fell, down 11% in the latest quarter 
compared to the same period of last year (see figure 10). 
4. 
Expenditure within crime higher is 16% lower in the latest quarter when compared to 
the same period of the previous year. This is partly due to the reduction in volumes and 
partly because that quarter of 2015 saw a particularly high-cost mix of cases completed. 
Civil legal aid 
5. 
In the latest quarter legal help new matter starts were 9% lower than in the same 
period of 2015. The implementation of the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of 
Offenders (LASPO) Act in April 2013 resulted in large reductions in legal help workload 
and the overall trend subsequently levelled out at around one-third of pre-LASPO levels 
(see figure 12). 
6. 
The number of civil representation certificates granted levelled out at around two-
thirds of previous levels following the implementation of the LASPO Act, but has 
increased over the last year. In the latest quarter they were up 8% compared to the 
same period of the previous year (see figure 12).  
7. 
The number of mediation assessments in the latest quarter was 17% down compared 
to the same period in 2015 and starts were down by 19% over the same period. 
8. 
There were 479 applications for Exceptional Case Funding (ECF) received in the 
latest quarter; the most in a single quarter since the ECF scheme began in 2013. 455 of 
these had been determined as at 30 November, of which 46% were granted.   

 
 
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Analysis and commentary 
Summary 
Legal aid workload can be broken down into two main justice areas, criminal and civil: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 
Legal aid 
Criminal legal aid 
This mainly includes work carried out in 
police stations and in criminal courts in 
relation to people being investigated or 
charged with criminal offences. 
It can mostly be split into the categories 
crime lower and crime higher. 
o Crime lower comprises legal advice 
provided to suspects before and after 
they have been charged, advice and 
representation for defendants in 
magistrates’ courts, and prison law.  
These are the relatively higher 
volume, lower cost units of criminal 
legal aid work. 
o Crime higher consists of legal 
advice and representation in the 
Crown Court 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. 
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. 
It can be split by area of law, and into the 
categories legal help, controlled legal 
representation and civil representation. 
o Legal help includes advice and 
assistance about a legal problem, but 
does not include representation or 
advocacy in proceedings.  
o Controlled legal representation 
involves representation specifically at 
mental health and immigration 
tribunals. It is generally reported 
alongside legal help in these statistics.  
o Civil representation is representation 
by solicitors and barristers for civil 
cases which could or do go to court. 

 
 
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expenditure figures are presented for budgeting and accounting purposes (see page 4 for 
further explanation).  
On this ‘closed-case’ basis, expenditure on work completed between July and September 
2016 was £413m1, a 6% reduction on the same quarter of 2015 and a 20% reduction on the 
same quarter of 2013 (see figure 1). Expenditure on civil legal aid has fallen further than that 
on criminal legal aid since 2013. These trends reflect 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 July 2013 to September 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 the civil expenditure category and central funds in 
the crime expenditure category but the cost of work in the higher courts is excluded here. 

 
 
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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, partly as 
a consequence of this, some areas of criminal legal aid have also seen a gradual fall. The 
largest reduction in workload within criminal legal aid between July and September 2016 and 
the same period in the previous year was for pre-charge defendants, which has fallen by 
around 7,500 cases (4%) driven by the continued falls in police station attendance work.   
•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

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

 
 
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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 4% fall compared to the same period 
in the previous year (see figure 3).  
Prior to April 2016, expenditure on crime lower had been declining more than workloads over 
recent periods, reflecting the impact of the two successive reductions to the fees paid for 
most crime lower legal aid work which were introduced in March 2014 and July 2015.  
From April 2016 however, the second of these reductions was suspended and the impact of 
this can be seen in the trend, with expenditure in the July to September quarter down 2% 
compared to the same period of the previous year and 3% higher than in the period from 
January to March 2016 (see figure 4). 
Figure 3: Number of cases within crime lower, Jul-Sep 2013 to Jul-Sep 2016  
 
 
 

 
 
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Figure 4: The value of completed crime lower cases, Jul-Sep 2013 to Jul-Sep 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 July and 
September 2016 but less than half of crime lower expenditure. Pre-charge legal aid workload 
between July and September 2016 fell by 4% 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 (86% in April to June 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 
 

 
 
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Figure 5: Workload with pre-charge suspects, Jul-Sep 2013 to Jul-Sep 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 July and September 2016 and around half of crime lower 
expenditure. The volume of completed work in the magistrates’ court fell by 3% 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 rose 
by 1% in this quarter when compared to the same quarter of the previous year. This goes 
against the downward trend of the last 2 years. The overall number of receipts in the 
magistrates’ court3 (including those not involving legal aid) was 5% down over the same 
period. The proportion of legal aid applications that are granted has changed very little over 
recent years, at around 95% (table 3.1). 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 (IOJ) test. 
The IOJ 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 
                                               
3 https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-court-statistics 

 
 
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aid. The more serious the charge or possible consequences for the defendant, the more 
likely that the case will qualify for legal aid.  
Figure 6: Magistrates’ court trends - representation and receipts, Jul-Sep 2013 to Jul-Sep 
2016 
 
Prison Law  
(Table 2.1 and 2.2) 
Prison law made up less than 2% of the crime lower workload between July and September 
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.   
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 (see figure 7).  
The trend has been more stable over the last year, with workload in July to September 2016 
down 1% compared to the same period the previous year. Expenditure on prison law over 
the same period fell by 10% however, in part due to a reduction in relatively expensive cases 
among parole board hearings work.  
 
 
 

 
 
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Figure 7: Volume of workload within prison law, Jul-Sep 2013 to Jul-Sep 2016 
 
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 trend in new Crown Court work entering the legal aid system continues to decline, with 
new orders for representation having been falling since the middle of 2013. This is driven by 
a reduction in cases received in the Crown Court overall (see figure 8)4. Over 99% of 
                                               
4 https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-court-statistics 
 

 
 
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applications for legal aid in the Crown Court are granted, and this has changed very little 
over recent years (table 3.2). 
All categories of orders declined over this period, but those relating to indictable offences fell 
proportionately less than other categories (see figure 9).  
Figures for the most recent 2 to 3 quarters should be considered provisional, and the most 
recent quarter in particular will be subject to upward revisions in later releases. This is 
because orders for legally-aided representation in the criminal courts are generally granted 
at the magistrates’ court initially, even for cases which subsequently move up to the Crown 
Court, and for some of these cases it takes time for the legal aid data to be updated to reflect 
the transfer to the Crown Court.  
For more information on data quality and revisions please see ‘A User Guide to Legal Aid 
Statistics’.  
 
Figure 8: Representation orders granted and receipts in the Crown Court, Jul-Sep 2013 to 
Jul-Sep 2016 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
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Figure 9: Representation orders granted in the Crown Court, Jul-Sep 2013 to Jul-Sep 2016, 
by case category 
 
 
Volumes of cases completed in the crime higher category have declined slightly over the last 
three years, but were down by 11% in the latest quarter compared with the same period of 
the previous year (see figure 10).  
These volumes relate only indirectly to current trends in crime and new orders for 
representation; they are also driven by the number of sitting days and cases awaiting trial in 
Crown Courts, which are in turn managed in response to workloads and the volume of 
outstanding cases within the criminal justice system.  
The value of payments for completed cases (figure 11) decreased by more than volumes 
over the last year, 16% lower in Jul-Sep 2016 than in the same period of the previous year. 
This is partly because that quarter of 2015 saw a particularly high-cost mix of cases 
completed. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
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Figure 10: Number of cases completed within crime higher (Tables 4.2 – 4.4), Jul-Sep 2013 
to Jul-Sep 2016 
 
 
 
Note: High cost cases are case starts and both litigator and advocate case completions are 
included. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Figure 11: The value of completed crime higher cases (Table 4.2 – 4.4), Jul-Sep 2013 to 
Jul-Sep 2016 
 
 
Note: High cost cases are case starts and both litigator and advocate case completions are 
included. 
 

 
 
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Very High Cost Cases (VHCCs)  
(Table 4.4) 
VHCCs are those cases in which, if they were to proceed to trial, it is estimated would last 
more than 60 days of court time. 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 July to September 2016 was £8.1 million, an increase of 
9% compared to July to September 2015. Over the longer term however, VHCC costs have 
fallen due to changes in fee 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 6% of the overall cost of legal aid in the Crown 
Court in the latest quarter.  
 
 

 
 
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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.  
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 
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. 

 
 
20 
 
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. 
In the last quarter legal help new matter starts were 9% lower than in the same period of 
2015 (see figure 12). The implementation of the LASPO Act in April 2013 resulted in large 
reductions in legal help workload and the overall trend had subsequently levelled out at 
around one-third of pre-LASPO levels. 
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. 
The number of civil representation certificates granted in the last quarter was up 8% 
compared to the same period of the previous year (see figure 12). Workloads fell by a 
smaller proportion than legal help following the implementation of the LASPO Act, before 
having levelled out at around two-thirds of pre-LASPO levels.  
We show grants in two ways. Grants are shown against the period in which the decision was 
made and recorded (see table 6.2 and 6.9) – these are referred to as ‘decision-based 
timing’. 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 and 6.8). 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.  
Civil representation and overall court volumes 
Figure 12 shows the number of certificates granted for legally-aided civil representation (see 
table 6.2) and the number of trials overall from court data, with figures from the latest release 
of Civil Justice Statistics quarterly5 (table 1.5). The trends were broadly similar until the 
implementation of LASPO, when there were large reductions in civil representation 
workload.  
However, since then, as new civil representation workload has stabilised, the trends have 
again become similar. More certificates are granted than the final number of trials as not all 
                                               
5 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/civil-justice-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-
2016 

 
 
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claims will reach court and cases with multiple parties can involve more than one legal aid 
certificate. 
Figure 12: Longer term trends in civil legal aid and overall court workloads, legal 
help/controlled legal representation, civil representation and total number of hearings and 
trials, Apr-Jun 2009 to Jul-Sep 2016.   
 
Civil legal aid by category of law (Tables 5.1 - 6.9) 
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. Descriptions of the main categories are given 
under ‘civil’ in the glossary in the User guide to legal aid statistics.  
Figure 13 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. 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
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Figure 13: Civil legal aid volumes and expenditure by category of law, Oct 2015 to Sep 2016 
 
 
Notes:  These figures are a combination of legal help/controlled legal representation matters 
completed and civil representation closed costs met by LAA. They have been rounded so 
may not sum to totals. The figure for family mediation is not included within the Family 
(private) total.  These figures also exclude housing possession court duty scheme and 
telephone operator service volumes and expenditure. 

 
 
23 
 
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, resulting in a large decrease in family legal help workload. This 
now appears to have stabilised, but new matter starts in July to September 2016 were 8% 
lower than the same quarter of 2015 (figure 14). Civil representation fell less sharply 
following LASPO, and the trend had then levelled out, but in July to September 2016 the 
number of certificates granted was up by 11% compared to the same period of the previous 
year, largely due to an increase in public law family certificates.  
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 July to September 2016 than in the same period of 
the previous year (table 6.2). Legal help matters completed in family public law reduced by 
9% over this period however (table 5.2). Public family workloads in civil representation and 
legal help are higher now than before the LASPO Act was introduced.  
Figure 14: Family workload: legal help and civil representation, Jul-Sep 2013 to Jul-Sep 
2016 
 
Note: overall workload has been calculated by adding legal help matters started and civil 
representation certificated granted. 

 
 
24 
 
Applications for civil representation in private family law supported by 
evidence of domestic 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.  
6.8 and 6.9 of the tables published alongside this report provide more 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.  
Similar to the figures on civil representation overall, numbers of grants for this type of 
application are presented both on the basis of decision-based timing (see table 6.9) and 
application-based timing (see table 6.8). See the introduction to the Civil legal aid section 
above for more information.  
From the beginning of 2016 there has been a steep increase in both applications and 
numbers of certificates granted. Comparing July to September 2016 with the same period of 
the previous year, applications were up 26% and the number granted (on decision-based 
timing) were up 51% (see figure 15).  
The proportion of applications granted remained steady at around 70% from the inception of 
this type of application until the end of 2015, but has increased to over 75% in the 3 quarters 
since then (see table 6.8).  
Between 1 April 2013 and 30 September 2016 the Legal Aid Agency received almost 28,000 
such applications. During this same period just over 19,000 certificates were granted.  
Figure 15: Applications, and certificates granted (decision-based timing) for civil 
representation in private family law supported by evidence of domestic abuse, Jul-Sep 2013 
to Jul-Sep 2016. 
 

 
 
25 
 
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.  
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 MIAM therefore takes place before the mediation sessions and 
must be undertaken for any individual wanting legal aid for this area of work. 
The number of MIAMs fell sharply after the introduction of LASPO in April 2013, and 
numbers have fluctuated since then. They were down by 17% in the last quarter compared 
to the previous year (see figure 16) and currently stand at around half of pre-LASPO levels.  
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 Jul-Sep 2013 to Jul-Sep 
2016 
 
 
It is not possible from the data held by the LAA to track a family’s progress through the 
various stages of mediation. While the number of mediations reaching each stage within a 
time period can be reported, it cannot be determined from a given set of assessments 
precisely what proportion of them led to starts or what proportion of starts led to agreements.    
The number of mediation starts fell by a similar proportion to assessments following LASPO.  
After recovering somewhat, they have now fallen back to just over half of pre-LASPO levels.   
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, 

 
 
26 
 
comprising 65% of all mediation starts in the last year (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 just over half 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 (65%) in the children category (this 
information is taken from the more detailed data published alongside this bulletin).  
 
Non-family 
Following the implementation of the LASPO Act 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 has remained stable when comparing the latest quarter to the 
previous year (see figure 17). There was a reduction in workload in summer 2015 due to the 
exit from the legal aid market of the largest provider of mental health legal help and 
controlled legal representation. 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
27 
 
Figure 17: Workload in mental health, Jul-Sep 2013 to Jul-Sep 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 21% lower in the July to September 2016 quarter than in the same quarter of 
the previous year (see figure 18).  
 
 

 
 
28 
 
Figure 18: Workload in immigration, Jul-Sep 2013 to Jul-Sep 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. The trend then fluctuated for around 18 months but since 2014 it has 
been falling, and in July to September 2016 there was a 9% decrease compared to the same 
quarter the previous year (see figure 19). Workload figures in this category of law are driven 
by legal help, which comprised more than 80% of overall housing legal aid volume in the 
latest quarter. 
 
 
 

 
 
29 
 
Figure 19: Workload in housing law, Jul-Sep 2013 to Jul-Sep 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 Act. 
Figure 20: Non-family workload: legal help and civil representation, Jul-Sep 2015 to Jul-Sep 
2016 
 
 
 
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. 
Jul-Sep 
2015
Oct-Dec 
2015
Jan-Mar 
2016
Apr-Jun 
2016
Jul-Sep 
2016
Actions against the police etc.
661
          
671
         
777
          
798
          
720
         
Clinical negligence
81
            
114
         
89
            
100
          
97
           
Community care
831
          
841
         
898
          
869
          
925
         
Consumer
-
           
-
          
-
           
-
           
-
          
Debt
196
          
154
         
119
          
122
          
112
         
Discrimination
366
          
268
         
348
          
436
          
270
         
Education
431
          
387
         
476
          
507
          
318
         
Employment
-
           
3
             
2
              
-
           
2
             
Miscellaneous
217
          
192
         
201
          
137
          
163
         
Personal injury
7
              
1
             
1
              
-
           
-
          
Public law
610
          
649
         
608
          
708
          
647
         
Welfare benefits
51
            
65
           
78
            
107
          
119
         
Other Non-family
3,085
       
3,345
      
3,597
       
3,784
       
3,373
      

 
 
30 
 
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 October 2015 and September 2016, 20% 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). 
The remaining 80% 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, October 2015 to September 2016 
 
Note:  Figures have been rounded so may not sum to totals. 
The specialist telephone advice service covers 5 different areas of law; debt, discrimination, 
education, family and housing. In the period from July to September 2016, 12% of all legal 
help matter starts and 14% of all legal help completed matters were dealt with through the 
specialist telephone service. Legal help for discrimination and education matters can only be 
accessed through the specialist telephone advice service.  
Specialist telephone cases which resulted in a matter being started are included within the 
overall legal help figures in Tables 5.1 – 5.3. 

 
 
31 
 
Judicial reviews 
Legal aid for judicial reviews takes the form of civil representation and can relate to any 
category 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, fewer than 5,000 a year relate to judicial 
review. The number granted in July to September 2016 was 31% lower than in the same 
quarter in 2015. Over 40% of judicial reviews were for immigration cases and nearly 30% for 
public law (see figure 22).   
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 to be a judicial review).  
Figure 22: Judicial review applications granted by category, Jul-Sep 2015 to Jul-Sep 2016 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Category
Jul-Sep 
2015
Oct-Dec 
2015
Jan-Mar 
2016
Apr-Jun 
2016
Jul-Sep 
2016
Actions against the police etc.
4
1
1
4
1
Community care
145
130
151
102
118
Debt
0
0
0
0
0
Education
3
4
3
5
1
Housing
143
151
135
93
80
Immigration
385
404
421
347
275
Mental health
2
2
3
3
2
Miscellaneous
15
18
13
6
12
Other public law Children Act proceedings
0
3
1
0
0
Public law
303
285
248
277
203
Welfare Benefits
0
1
1
2
0
Judicial Review total
1000
999
977
839
692

 
 
32 
 
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 479 applications for ECF received between July and September 2016, the 
highest in a single quarter since the scheme began. 82% of these were new applications; a 
smaller proportion than it has been recently (see Figure 23).  
The remaining 84 applications were re-submitted for review; this is where a case has 
previously been rejected or refused ECF funding and then resubmitted by the client for 
reconsideration. These 84 applications also include reviews of refused amendments; 
amendments are not included in the figures normally since including these would be double 
counting the volume of grants. Over half of the total reviews this quarter were for immigration 
matters; this is three times the volume of immigration reviews received in April-June 2016. 
The average turnaround time for new applications received between July and September 
2016 and determined by 30 November was 15 working days, against a target of 20. The 
average for reviews in this period was 10 working days, against a target of 10.  
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, excluding weekends, 

 
 
33 
 
bank holidays and time spent waiting for further information, e.g. financial information to 
support the means assessment. These figures do not take into account changes to targets 
for specific application types6. 
Figure 23: Volume of ECF applications received, new or review, Jul-Sep 13 to Jul-Sep 16. 
 
This quarter, 116 ECF applications (24%) were made directly by the client, which is the 
highest proportion in a quarter since the scheme began more than double the proportion this 
time last year. The increase in direct client applications may be due to the ECF application 
form being simplified in response to a judicial review (mentioned later in this chapter).  
Determinations 
Applications that are not withdrawn by the client can receive three different determinations: 
rejected, refused or granted. For an application to be granted it must meet the three criteria 
detailed at the beginning of the chapter. Rejected applications do not progress to being 
assessed against the means and merits criteria. This will be because they are either: 
 
in scope (eligible) for legal aid, 
 
an incomplete/premature application, or 
 
“other” which encompasses issues such as the timeliness of submission and eligibility for 
review 
Figures on these refusal and rejection reasons can be found in the more detailed data file. 
 
                                               
6 As a result of the 2015 Judicial Review, certain cases may be treated as urgent with shorter targets. 

 
 
34 
 
Of the 479 ECF applications received between July and September 2016, 455 (95%) had 
been determined by the LAA as of 30 November 2016. Of these, 46% (210) were granted, 
35% were refused and 17% rejected (see figure 24). 
The remaining 24 applications were awaiting assessment as at 30 November, and a further 
24 applications from earlier quarters also still await a determination. 
The number and proportion of ECF applications being granted has generally been increasing 
since the scheme began, although the proportion of grants has fallen slightly recently.  
Figure 24: ECF determinations by outcome, Jul-Sep 2013 to Jul-Sep 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. As a result, applications with a ‘poor’ or 
‘borderline’ prospect of success had to be considered for funding. 
This judgement was appealed at the Court of Appeal in March 2016. In May 2016, the court 
found that the LAA regulations were lawful, contrary to the initial judgement. Consequently, 
from this date, applications with a ‘poor’ or ‘borderline’ prospect of success no longer need to 
be considered for funding. However, the volume of applications assessed to have a poor or 
borderline prospects of success is generally small so this may have little impact. 

 
 
35 
 
Applications and determinations by category of law 
Of the ECF applications received between July and September 2016, immigration (53%), 
family (16%), and inquest (13%) remained the most requested categories of law (figure 25).  
The impact of the first court judgement discussed above can be seen in the figures; the 
proportion of immigration applications being granted has increased sharply since around 
Apr-Jun 2015. However, this quarter has seen this proportion fall for the first time, down to 
58% compared to 72% between April and June 2016.  
Since immigration forms a majority of the total ECF applications received, this may be the 
reason for the dip in overall grant proportion this quarter. 
 
Figure 25: ECF determinations by category of law, July to September 2016. 
 
 
 
Category of law
Awaiting Granted Refused Rejected Withdrawn Part-grant
Total
Debt/Consumer/Contract
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
             
Discrimination
0
0
0
1
0
0
1
             
Family
3
24
26
20
2
3
78
           
Housing/Land Law
0
1
8
6
0
0
15
           
Immigration
2
147
84
20
2
0
255
         
Inquest
13
33
10
7
0
0
63
           
Other
3
1
31
22
0
0
57
           
PI/Clinical Negligence
2
1
1
0
0
0
4
             
Welfare Benefits
1
3
0
1
0
0
5
             
Grand Total
23
207
160
77
4
3
479
         

 
 
36 
 
Annual updates 
Statistics on the following topics are updated on an annual basis, in the Legal Aid Statistics 
bulletin published following the final (January to March) quarter of the financial year. 
 
Appeals and representations 
This section of legal aid statistics contains figures on: 
 
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.   
 
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. 
This section is updated annually as only partial data is available on a quarterly basis.  The 
most recent edition of this section can be found here: 
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2016 
 
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 annual provider section presents information on the number of provider offices who 
have completed work and received associated payments from the LAA in any given quarter 
or financial year.  
The main document includes commentary and maps, and tables 9.1 to 9.4 present summary 
figures. A CSV file of more detailed data published alongside gives, 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. 
The most recent edition of this annual section can be found here: 
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2016 
In December 2015 a paper was published presenting the findings from research undertaken 
by a research and data working group formed as a collaboration between the Bar Council, 
Criminal Bar Association, Legal Aid Agency and Ministry of Justice. The aim of the paper 
was to improve knowledge of the demographic composition of junior barristers (all barristers 
excluding QCs) receiving legal aid fee income. The paper can found here: 
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/composition-and-remuneration-of-junior-
barristers-under-the-advocates-graduated-fee-scheme-in-criminal-legal-aid 

 
 
37 
 
Clients and provider characteristics 
This section of legal aid statistics shows summary figures on the breakdown of clients in 
each main area of legal aid by gender, disability status, ethnicity and age and compares 
these with the England and Wales population as a whole, using the latest population 
estimates from the Office for National Statistics. 
The most recent edition of this annual section can be found here: 
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2016 
Other criminal legal aid 
This section covers areas of criminal legal aid that are not covered in the crime lower and 
crime higher categories. These include: 
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, for example litigators’ 
claims for confiscation proceedings, 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 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, for an Interest of Justice test only as there are no means tests for 
these areas. 
Central Funds  
This category encompasses arrangements to meet costs in a variety of scenarios that are 
not covered by the main legal aid schemes. Some aspects of these are administered by the 
LAA and others by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service. These scenarios include: 
 
the reimbursement of defendants acquitted after privately funding their defence 
lawyers. Payments from central funds are normally triggered when a judge grants a 
Defence Cost Order (DCO) for legal aid at Magistrates, Crown or higher courts; 
 
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 of domestic violence being typical. This situation is covered by 
the terms of section 38 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999; 
 
court interpreters and translators, and court intermediaries; 
 
reimbursement for successful private prosecutions; 
 
reimbursement of some of the costs of attending magistrates’ court for witnesses, 
experts and defendants. 
The most recent annual edition of this section can be found here: 
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-quarterly-january-to-march-2016 

 
 
38 
 
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: 
 
Richard Shand 
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 July to September 2016 
 
39 
 
NATIONAL STATISTICS STATUS 
National Statistics status means that official statistics 
meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality 
and public value. 
All official statistics should comply with all aspects of the Code of Practice for Official 
Statistics. They are awarded National Statistics status following an assessment by the UK 
Statistics Authority’s regulatory arm. The Authority considers whether the statistics meet the 
highest standards of Code compliance, including the value they add to public decisions and 
debate. 
It is a producer’s responsibility to maintain compliance with the standards expected of 
National Statistics, and to improve its statistics on a continuous basis. If a producer 
becomes concerned about whether its statistics are still meeting the appropriate standards, 
it should discuss its concerns with the Authority promptly. National Statistics status can be 
removed at any point when the highest standards are not maintained, and reinstated when 
standards are restored.  
 

 
 
Legal Aid Statistics Quarterly July to September 2016 
 
40 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
© Crown copyright 
Produced by the Ministry of Justice 
Alternative formats are available on request from xxx@xxx.xx