My Honourable Friend the Minister of State for Justice (Heidi Alexander MP) has today made the following statement:
'Today, I am announcing the Government’s response to the Criminal Legal Aid Crime Lower consultation which was launched in January of this year. Crime Lower covers work carried out by legal aid providers at police stations, in the magistrates' courts in relation to people accused of, or charged with criminal offences, prison law and work completed by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).
Criminal legal aid is a vital part of the Criminal Justice System. It plays an important role in upholding the constitutional right to access to justice and a fair trial, providing an equality of arms between the prosecution and defence.
In response to the Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review (CLAIR), the Ministry of Justice allocated additional investment in its 2024/25 budget to solicitors undertaking criminal legal aid work in police stations and the Youth Court. The Crime Lower consultation sought views on how best to distribute the additional £21.1m funding for those schemes.
The Government is committed to supporting the sustainability of the criminal legal aid system and will invest an additional £2.9m in the police station schemes, taking the total annual investment in response to the Crime Lower consultation to £24m.
£18.5m per annum will go into the police station fee schemes to begin the process of harmonising the different fees across different police stations.
£5.1m per annum will be spent on a separate Youth Court fee scheme with enhanced fees for the most serious offences.
We are also introducing police station travel renumeration in relation to police station schemes with fewer than two providers, and the Isle of Wight. This reflects concerns around capacity challenges for specific schemes and is designed to incentivise providers from neighbouring schemes to pick up cases in these areas of concern. This will cost around £0.4m per annum.
The consultation response has been published on Gov.uk and a copy has been placed in the Library of the House.'