How well the government is working with others to manage the financial sustainability of the legal aid sector will be reviewed by the public spending watchdog.

The National Audit Office has scheduled a project this winter to examine the value for money provided by legal aid.

The study will look at:

  • What progress the government has made since the NAO’s 2014 report on civil legal aid in understanding the full costs and savings from implementing reforms under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act;
  • How the government is ensuring that legal aid provides access to justice as intended; and
  • How effectively the government understands and works with others to managing the financial sustainability of the legal aid sector.

In its 2014 report, the NAO concluded that the Ministry of Justice was on track to make significant and quick reductions in civil legal aid spending. Less clear was the extent to which the ministry met its objective of targeting legal aid at those who needed it most.

The NAO was unable to say when it will publish its findings. Practitioners will no doubt hope its findings appear before the government makes any policy decisions based on its own civil legal aid review.

Neither report is likely to paint a rosy picture of the sector. Last week, the founder of Mackintosh Law, which has been providing mental capacity and community care support to disabled clients for over two decades, announced that the firm intended to wind down operations due to the crisis engulfing the civil legal aid sector.

 

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