Ministry of Justice’s legal aid cuts receive scathing criticism from public accounts committee

The House of Commons committee of Public Accounts has produced a damning report on the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ) cuts to legal aid spending.

The committee, chaired by Labour MP Margaret Hodge, criticised the MoJ for:

• failing to base its policies on robust evidence;
• inhibiting access to mediation in family law cases;
• not knowing whether people who are eligible for legal aid are able to get it;
• preventing people who are no longer eligible for legal aid from accessing justice;
• failing to understand or manage the impact of litigants in person on the court service; and
• failing to know whether the reduction in civil legal aid spending is outweighed by additional costs incurred in other parts of the public sector.

The summary of the report says: "The Ministry of Justice (the Ministry) is on track to make a significant and rapid reduction to the amount that it spends on civil legal aid. However, it introduced major changes on the basis of no evidence in many areas, and without making good use of the evidence that it did have in other areas. It has been slow to fill the considerable gaps in its understanding, and has not properly assessed the full impact of the reforms. Almost two years after the reforms, the Ministry is still playing catch up: it does not know if those still eligible are able to access legal aid; and it does not understand the link between the price it pays for legal aid and the quality of advice being given. Perhaps most worryingly of all, it does not understand, and has shown little interest in, the knock-on costs of its reforms across the public sector. It therefore does not know whether the projected £300 million spending reduction in its own budget is outweighed by additional costs elsewhere. The Department therefore does not know whether the savings in the civil legal aid budget represent value for money."