Proposals for the Reform of Legal Aid in England and Wales
Reference number: CP12/10
Open date: 15 November 2010
Close date: 14 February 2011
Response date: 21 June 2011
This consultation seeks views on proposals for reform of legal aid in England and Wales. The proposals represent a radical, wide-ranging and ambitious programme of reform which aims to ensure that legal aid is targeted to those who need it most, for those cases in which legal advice or representation is justified.
This consultation is aimed at providers of publicly funded legal services and others with an interest in the justice system.
You are encouraged to use the online questionnaire to provide your response.
- Consultation
- Online questionnaire
- Impact assessments
- Equality impact assessments
- Consultation response
Consultation
- Proposals for the Reform of Legal Aid in England and Wales [PDF 1.01mb]
- Impact on family mediation services - clarification [PDF 0.01mb]
- Provision of advice and information services by phone: clarification & background [PDF 0.02mb]
- Cynigion ar gyfer Diwygio Cymorth cyfreithiol yng Nghymru a Lloegr [PDF 0.07mb]
- Consultation questionnaire [Word 0.29mb]
Online questionnaire
The following questionnaire consists of 51 questions, so you may wish to read the consultation paper for background and context first, then set aside adequate time to enter your views on the following consultation pages.
Please note that once you start the online consultation, you can only return to your data provided you leave your browser open on the consultation page. If you close your browser part of the way through, you will not be able to continue where you left off.
Online consultation questionnaire
Impact assessments
- Scope Changes [PDF 0.29mb]
- Provision of telephone advice [PDF 0.13mb]
- Financial Eligibility [PDF 0.26mb]
- Legal Aid Remuneration (Criminal) [PDF 0.30mb]
- Legal Aid Remuneration - civil and family fees [PDF 0.17mb]
- Expert Fees [PDF 0.09mb]
- Interest on Client Accounts [PDF 0.13mb]
- Supplementary Legal Aid Scheme (SLAS) [PDF 0.18mb]
- Cumulative Legal Aid Reform Proposals [PDF 0.14mb]
Equality impact assessments
- Legal Aid Reform: Scope Changes [PDF 0.61mb]
- Provision of telephone advice [PDF 0.13mb]
- Financial Eligibility [PDF 0.14mb]
- Legal Aid Remuneration - Criminal Fees [PDF 0.25mb]
- Civil and Family Fees [PDF 0.17mb]
- Legal Aid Remuneration – Experts’ Fees [PDF 0.07mb]
- Alternative Sources of Funding: Sharing Responsibility [PDF 0.09mb]
- Cumulative Impact [PDF 0.16mb]
- Addendum to the Cumulative EIA [PDF 0.01mb]
Consultation response
This is the Government response to the consultation on legal aid reform.
We received over 5,000 responses. A list of those who responded to the consultation is below.
The majority of responses did not support the Government’s proposals for reform, although there was some support for particular measures. The key issues raised in the consultation, and the Government’s response, are summarised in this document, and full details are set out in the annexes to this response.
An Impact Assessment and Equalities Impact Assessment have been published alongside this response, setting out the estimated potential impacts of the programme of reform on legal aid clients and providers.
Also published today is the Government Response to Justice Select Committee’s Third Report of Session 2010-11: The Government’s Proposed Reform of Legal Aid.
- Proposals for the Reform of Legal Aid in England and Wales - Consultation response [PDF 1.19mb]
- Impact assessment [PDF 0.28mb]
- Impact assessment Annex A: Scope [PDF 0.09mb]
- Impact assessment Annex B: Eligibility [PDF 0.08mb]
- Impact assesment Annex C: Remuneration in civil and family proceedings [PDF 0.05mb]
- Impact assessment Annex D: Community Legal Advice telephone helpline [PDF 0.07mb]
- Impact assessment Annex E: Supplementary Legal Aid Scheme (SLAS) [PDF 0.05mb]
- Impact assessment Annex F: Expert fees [PDF 0.03mb]
- Impact assessment Annex G: Criminal fees [PDF 0.11mb]
- Equality impact assessment [PDF 0.75mb]
- Schedule of revised legal aid fees [PDF 0.55mb]
- List of respondents [PDF 0.07mb]
- Government Response to Justice Committee’s Third Report of Session 2010/11: The Government’s proposed reform of legal aid [PDF 0.30mb]
- Litigants in person: a literature review