More civil legal aid cuts proposed

govt has launched a consultation on proposals for futher reform of civil legal aid inc -

- a residence test for civil legal aid claimants;
- reforms to reduce the use of legal aid to fund weak judicial reviews;
- amendments to the civil merits test to prevent the funding of any cases with less than a 50% chance of success.
- reduce solicitor representation fees in family public law cases by 10%, to align the fees for barristers and other advocates in non-family cases,
- remove the 35% uplift in provider legal aid fees in immigration and asylum appeals.
- reduce fees paid to experts in civil, family and criminal cases by 20%.

https://consult.justice.gov.uk/digital-communications/transforming-legal-aid

interesting nearlylegal blog on implications of changes in MoJ consultation from legal aid housing work point of view -

http://nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/2013/04/transforming-legal-aid/