London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Jul 25, 2025

UK MPs warn of collapse of country’s ‘hollowed out’ justice system due to stagnant pay & years of government cuts in legal aid

UK MPs warn of collapse of country’s ‘hollowed out’ justice system due to stagnant pay & years of government cuts in legal aid

A UK parliamentary committee has warned that the country’s “hollowed out” justice system is at risk of failure because of poor pay for public defence lawyers, for many of whom a career in legal aid has become “less attractive.”

In a new report, the House of Commons Justice Committee has urged the government to consider implementing major reforms and conduct a review on how it funds legal aid. In this system, the state pays defence counsel fees for defendants who cannot afford to hire their own lawyer.

The report, titled ‘The Future of Legal Aid’, noted that there had not been any increase in criminal legal aid fees for the past 20 years. This has contributed to a “growing imbalance” between the ability of criminal law firms to recruit and retain staff – with many preferring to join the better-paying Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) instead.

“It is fundamental to our adversarial justice system that criminal defence services have sufficient resources to provide high-quality representation to suspects and defendants,” noted the MPs who recommended that the government should look into linking legal aid fees to CPS pay rates.

Without significant reform, the report warned of a shortage of qualified criminal legal aid lawyers. This “shift in the balance” between prosecution and defence could “compromise the fairness of the criminal justice system,” it added.


Committee chairman Bob Neill said years of government cuts to reduce the legal aid bill had “hollowed out key parts of the justice system.” As a result of fixed fees, he said, the number of people receiving legal aid is falling while legal aid firms are struggling since the costs involved in complex cases cannot be covered.

“The legal aid system is there to ensure that everyone has access to justice. If the most vulnerable in society are being left to navigate the justice system on their own then fairness is lost and the system has failed,” Neill said.

The committee also pointed to reports by legal aid providers of a “culture of refusal” at the Legal Aid Agency, which is the body within the Ministry of Justice that oversees legal aid in England and Wales.

However, witnesses had told the committee that the agency was seen as “the voice of the Government against the profession” and looked for the “slightest slip” to deny applications for legal aid.

The MPs called for “fundamental changes” to the legal aid system, which needed to be made “more flexible” to ensure that there is a “consistent pipeline of legal aid lawyers” to help the most vulnerable.

Earlier in the year, a report by the House of Lords Constitution Committee had urged the government to increase the legal aid budget, which had seen a “radical reduction” by almost 40% in under a decade.

The report said this had “exacerbated barriers for accessing legal representation” and recommended that the government increases the legal aid budget to “meet the new challenges for access to justice that have arisen during the pandemic.”

That report also warned that the funding cuts to courts and tribunals had led to a backlog of court cases in England and Wales that had reached “crisis levels.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Deputy attorney general's second day of meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell has concluded
Controversial March in Switzerland Features Men Dressed in Nazi Uniforms
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
×