The investment will increase overall spend by 24% on housing legal aid and by 30% on immigration and asylum legal aid, and is the first real-terms fees rise for 30 years.
According to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), it means the fixed fee for housing work will increase by 42% from £157 to £223 and the fixed fee for asylum legal help will increase by 35% from £413 to £559.
The MoJ said the investment will be implemented ‘as soon as operationally possible’.
However, Law Society president Richard Atkinson said: ‘Our research has found that this work is simply not profitable for practitioners at present, indeed a 95% increase is needed to restore fees to 1996 levels.’
Both Atkinson and Barbara Mills KC, chair of the Bar Council, urged the government to create an independent fee review body for legal aid.
