The availability of immigration and asylum legal aid in England and Wales is so poor that the Lord Chancellor is in breach of his duty to provide access to justice, according to a letter threatening legal action.
The letter, sent to Alex Chalk by the Public Law Project (PLP), says there is a particular shortage in the north-west and south-west of England, with the latter having a capacity for fewer than 300 cases a year, despite being home to the Bibby Stockholm, which can accommodate around 500 people.
The PLP found that refugee and asylum charities it spoke to for a companion report made an average of 16 attempts before securing a legal aid solicitor. In London, which has the highest number of providers, a refugee charity was able to successfully refer clients in only 4.1% of 864 attempts.
Daniel Rourke, PLP’s lead solicitor, said: “Our immigration system needs legal aid to ensure fair decisions are made. Without it, the Home Office and the [Immigration] Tribunal risk making decisions that condemn people to persecution abroad or destitution in the UK through ‘hostile environment’ measures.
“Our report shows that legal aid provision is shrinking as demand grows. There are no plans on the horizon that will reverse either of these trends. For over a decade PLP has been trying to persuade the Ministry of Justice to make the legal aid system accessible to those who need it and sustainable enough for lawyers to provide it. PLP has not taken this step lightly”.
The PLP would demand that the Lord Chancellor take urgent action, Mr Rourke said, and “reluctantly prepare legal proceedings” if he failed to fulfil his statutory and constitutional duties.
The 27-page letter, the first step in a judicial review against Chalk, says he is failing in his legal duty under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (Laspo).
PLP’s accompanying report, Oceans of Unmet Need, found that six immigration and asylum legal aid providers have recently either ceased trading or stopped offering legal aid in the South West of England, while 4,827 asylum seekers have been dispersed to accommodation in the region as of June 2023. Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are also placed in local authority care in the South West (390 last year).
Rourke said: “There are no immigration and asylum legal aid solicitors left in many parts of the country. The largest private firms providing legal aid in this area of law are doing so at a loss. They are subsidising the taxpayer and cannot increase their capacity.
“This type of legal aid helps people fleeing trauma such as persecution, trafficking and domestic abuse to present their cases to the Home Office or appeal to the tribunal.”
A government spokesman said it had invested £44m in immigration legal aid last year, adding: “As a result of our actions, the number of providers has increased in recent months, from 153 in March to 173 in September. We are also consulting on a 15% pay increase for work under the new Illegal Immigration Act.
“The Legal Aid Agency regularly monitors capacity in the legal aid market and takes immediate action if gaps emerge, and the Ministry of Justice is reviewing the system to ensure it is sustainable for the future.”
