Last week we told our staff to work from home. We cancelled client appointments. We introduced special measures to check incoming post. We prohibited entry to our office for anyone without an appointment. Why? Because we are a legal aid firm representing asylum seekers.

Our firm was not on the list circulated by the far right but like all other immigration law firms we felt the chill of the threat. Why should we not be able to go about our professional business without fearing for our safety and that of our clients?

It’s not the first time we have been singled out and put under the spotlight. The previous government attacked 'lefty activist lawyers' when we successfully challenged their policies towards refugees in the courts. We were just doing our job. Yet we were attacked by ministers of the Crown.

And the thing is this – we do that work on behalf of the government. Asylum seekers are entitled to have a legal representative to help them make their case. Indeed when an asylum seeker has a legal representative it makes it much easier for the Home Office and the courts to make decisions.

We do the work on behalf of the government under contracts we bid for from time to time. And a new contract is due to start from 1 September 2024. But you won’t find it easy to get legal representation if you are an asylum seeker. Despite being entitled to legal aid there are so few lawyers providing this service.

And that is because the last government decided to refuse to increase the rates it pays under legal aid. We have been working at the same rates since they were last reviewed in 2013.

In 2013 new Remuneration Regulations were introduced. In these the government reduced the hourly rate paid for representing an asylum seeker by 10% to £47 per hour (£51 in London).

They also introduced a fixed fee for representing an asylum seeker in most cases. That fixed fee was £413, a fee you only get when the case finishes which can be many years after it starts. And to confirm for my friends in city law firms – that is £413 for the whole case, not per hour.

There have been tenders for numerous contracts since 2013. All tendered for at the same rates. The last contract was in 2018 and it lasted 6 years with no increase in the rates. Today we are still paid the same rates as in 2013.

We want to represent and help as many asylum seekers as we can. But we have been forced to ration the number we can take on because given inflation and the need to pay our staff a living wage we can no longer afford to do legal aid asylum work in volume. We make a loss on every case. Our lawyers need to bring in much more than £51 per hour to break even. We can only continue to do legal aid work because it is cross subsidized by our solicitors who do private paying work.

The new government has an opportunity with the new contracts starting next month to increase the rates paid so that the value is restored to 2013 levels. They have rightly restored pay for junior doctors working in the National Health Service. What about the legal aid solicitors working in what is in effect a National Legal Service?

To restore the value to 2013 levels would require a 35% increase in the rates. The hourly rate needs to increase to £63 per hour (£69 in London) and the fixed fee to £561. These rates will still be extremely low for the legal sector. The government will still be getting an extremely good deal.

We were heartened by the warm words of support from the profession and the lord chancellor when the far right was targeting us. But we need more than warm words to sustain us in our work. And increasing the rates so their value is restored after an 11 year freeze would be a very good start.

 

The author is a partner at an immigration firm who has asked to remain anonymous

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