In 2016 £1.6 billion was spent on legal aid, which is just under a quarter of the Ministry of Justice's budget. Maintaining access to justice remains absolutely vital and continues to be at the heart of reforms to the justice system.
In October 2017, the post-implementation review of the legal aid changes made by and following the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) was announced. The review will consider the effect of the major changes to legal aid fees made by LASPO as well as recent policy changes on access to legal aid. The Government has committed to review a number of areas, including the changes made to the scope of legal aid for family, civil and criminal cases and the introduction of the Exceptional Case Funding scheme, as well as changes to the rules on financial eligibility, including the application of the capital eligibility test to all legal aid applicants.
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