Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister of Justice to detail the overall expenditure figures for legal aid services, along with the associated number of cases granted legal aid, in each of the last 10 years.
Minister of Justice: Table 1 presents total annual expenditure for legal aid in Northern Ireland alongside the number of cases granted in each year since 2015/16.
When interpreting the information in Table 1, it should be noted that statistics covering legal aid grants and expenditure within any given time period are not directly comparable and should be viewed as independent figures. As legal aid cases can last for several years, payments made in one year can and will reflect work undertaken from legal aid applications granted in previous years. Similarly, not all legal aid cases granted in any given year will have been completed or resulted in a payment being made during that same time period.
Table 1: Legal Aid Expenditure and Cases Granted, 2015/16 to 2024/25
| Financial Year | Expenditure (£000’s) | Grants |
| 2015/16 | 91,181 | 97,185 |
| 2016/17 | 82,328 | 84,924 |
| 2017/18 | 79,232 | 78,680 |
| 2018/19 | 84,230 | 80,499 |
| 2019/20 | 82,098 | 74,298 |
| 2020/21 | 75,214 | 64,775 |
| 2021/22 | 94,716 | 68,962 |
| 2022/23 | 101,298 | 63,976 |
| 2023/24 | 113,500 | 63,881 |
| 2024/25 | 119,731 | 61,573 |
Source: Legal Services Agency (LSA)
Notes:
Grants reflect ‘Acts of Assistance’ for the earlier years 2015/16 to 2018/19. These figures constitute management information, derived from Phoenix (LSA’s previous case management system), and were calculated on a legal aid ‘certificate’ basis. Equivalent figures from 2019/20 onwards are Official Statistics, derived from LSA’s new, digital case management system (LAMS) and are calculated at a case level, reflecting the post-transformation environment. As multiple certificates could be granted on a legal aid case, acts of assistance automatically tend to be higher. Accordingly, total grants from 2019/20 onwards are not directly comparable with earlier years.
Grants of Exceptional Funding (22 cases in 2024/25) are included from 2019/20 onwards, following the introduction of LAMS.
While LSA adjudicate on civil applications, criminal legal aid is a judicial function and is granted by the Courts.
The decrease in grants from 2022/23 is evident within civil advice cases and reflects more stringent verification of capital threshold as part of the financial eligibility criteria for civil legal services, as prescribed by The Civil Legal Services (Financial) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015. While there has been no change to the regulations, the LSA identified a body of applications for individuals whose capital is in excess of the prescribed threshold for advice and assistance. These applicants do not meet the financial eligibility test and as such the applications have been refused.
As part of the Enabling Access to Justice Delivery Plan, financial eligibility for civil legal services (as per Note 4) will be looked at.
ENDS
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