Bar Council Chair Derek Sweeting QC hailed the £2.2bn extra for the courts, prison and probation services in Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Budget last week ‘a step in the right direction’, but warned there would still be a shortfall of funding
£477m was allocated to the criminal justice backlog, while £324m will go towards reducing backlogs in the civil, family and tribunal jurisdictions, and £200m will go towards the Ministry of Justice court reform programme.
Law Society president I Stephanie Boyce said: ‘We have long warned the civil legal aid sector is in a precarious state and urgent action needs to be taken―to give confidence and security to civil providers in the medium-term and to help them survive while a more lasting solution is found.
‘The thresholds for means-tested legal aid will increase, which will expand access to justice for those who cannot afford it. We have long campaigned for this change.’
