The Legal Aid Agency is an

executive agency An executive agency is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate, to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government or N ...

of the

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...

(MoJ) in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It provides both civil and criminal legal aid and advice in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

. The agency was formed on 1 April 2013 as a replacement for the

Legal Services Commission The Legal Services Commission (LSC) was an executive non-departmental public body of the Ministry of Justice which was responsible for the operational administration of legal aid in England and Wales between 2000 and 2013. Overview The LSC was re ...

, which unlike the Legal Aid Agency, was a

non-departmental public body In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process of ...

of the MoJ. This change was enacted by the

Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) is a statute of the Parliament of the United Kingdom enacted by the coalition government of 2010-2015, creating reforms to the justice system. The bill for the act was int ...

to allow for greater ministerial control over the UK government's legal aid budget.

Chief executive

Until recently, the agency's

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

, the Director of Legal Casework, was Shaun McNally (since April 2016.) However, in March 2021 this role has now been taken over by Jane Harbottle, who has herself confirmed "it is an honour." The Chief Executive's role primarily involved achieving the departments policies, ensuring a diverse and competent workforce, as well as making sure the Legal Aid Agency meets statutory obligations. It is also his or her decision about legal aid funding in individual cases.

Achievements

In 2019, the Legal Aid Agency processed 91% of civil applications for legal aid within 20 days, and 100% of crime applications within 2 days. In total, they processed 400,000 applications for legal aid.

Criticism

The Legal Aid Agency has been criticised by the Law society because many areas of the country have little or no legal aid providers. Additionally, there have been disapprovals of the Legal Aid Agency's handling of exceptional case funding (ECF). ECF is legal funding for a case which does not fall within the scope of LASPO. The Legal Aid Agency had planned for 5,000 to 7,000 applications for ECF in the first year post LASPO, however only achieved 1,520. Further criticism stems from the Legal Aid Agency's payment and treatment of legal aid providers. Funding provided by the Legal Aid Agency can often take years to come through to barristers. This was identified by the

Law Society of England and Wales The Law Society of England and Wales (officially The Law Society) is the professional association that represents solicitors for the jurisdiction of England and Wales. It provides services and support to practising and training solicitors, as ...

during the pandemic, who pushed for further guidance from the Legal Aid Agency regarding cash flow problems. The Law Society also expressed their view in a different report that fees provided by the Legal Aid Agency should be paid more fairly, and cover out-of-work hours performed by legal aid providers. In 2017, the Bach Commission called for the replacement of the Legal Aid Agency with an independent body that does not have any government involvement. In a 2018 High court Judgement, the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) lost another Judicial Review. The case was to decide how much the LAA pays out in complex fraud cases. In 2021, leading solicitors launched legal action against the Legal Aid Agency (LAA). The Judicial Review was called because the LAA did not consult solicitors on changes to bringing cost assessment in house. This would mean there would be no independent review of how much the LAA would payout. So essentially the LAA would not be able to dispute payment with itself.

References

External links

* Ministry of Justice (United Kingdom) Executive agencies of the United Kingdom government English law Legal aid Solicitors 2013 establishments in the United Kingdom {{UK-gov-stub