Following on from the Review of Civil Legal Aid and concession of a judicial review last year, the Lord Chancellor announced in November 2024 that “subject to consultation” legal aid fees would finally be increased. That consultation was published on Friday and will run until 21 March 2025. The consultation explicitly acknowledges that much legal aid work (e.g. all controlled work which includes work on asylum applications and tribunal appeals) is loss making.

The proposals for increases to controlled work are generally around 30% (full details here) and licenced work (e.g. judicial review work) is closer to 10% (full details here). The calculation of the proposed fee levels was explained as follows:

To calculate the new fees, all hourly rates are uprated to £65.35/£69.30. All fixed fees are based on an underlying hourly rate of £45–£50 (Table 7 in the regulations). We calculated the percentage increase from the current underlying hourly rate to the proposed hourly rate and then applied this percentage increase to the relevant fixed fees. Where the fixed fee is national, we uprated to both the London and non-London hourly rate and applied the higher uplift.

The consultation includes asking for feedback on improving the experience of legal aid processes, and I am sure that providers will have a lot to say on that point. This process has already dragged on for far too long, and the amount of time that will pass before any increases are implemented will likely be too late to keep some providers doing this vital work, but it does feel like change is finally coming.

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