As part of the Civil Legal Aid Review launched in January 2023, the Government have issued an open call for evidence.

The statistics in Annex C of the call illustrate the overall trend of decreasing income, work completed, and number of providers in most areas of Civil Legal Aid. Family Law is a notable exception, with Housing (including the in-court duty advisor scheme) showing a particularly sharp decline.

Civil Legal Aid for Housing	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	Decrease 2018-23
Total Income	£43m	£41m	£31m	£30m	£33m	23%
Controlled Work Claims Completed	69,172	59,813	19,724	37,719	48,850	30%
Licensed Work Certificates Completed	7,466	7,727	5,200	3,789	4,285	43%
Number of Providers	296	267	247	223	208	30%

Could AI be part of the solution? The call for evidence includes questions about the ways in which technology could be used to improve the delivery of civil legal aid and the sustainability of civil legal aid providers, whilst the “vision for the future of the civil, family and tribunal justice system” specifically refers to exploring safe and appropriate uses of A.I.

Ultimately, the Provider Survey Report published on 19 January 2024 indicates that the bottom line is the bottom line when it comes to the sustainability of Civil Legal Aid. 82% of the dwindling number of providers report dissatisfaction with a system which has seen no increase in fees since 1996 compounded by a 10% fee cut in 2011, resulting in a real-terms decrease of around 50%. Of the profit-making providers, 55% report that Legal Aid is not, in fact, profitable.

The call for evidence closes on 21 February 2024, with the full review to conclude by 31 March 2024.