Minister gifts solicitors £20m pay rise to help tenants fight evictions

The Government has increased its support for tenants who face eviction as its looming reforms bring in greater rights for private renters.

This extra funding will take the form of significantly higher payments to duty solicitors representing tenants who are facing eviction in court.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has raised the rates paid for all forms of housing legal aid work by between 25% and 30% to £69.30 an hour at an extra cost of £20 million to the public purse which, it claims, will allow tenants to resolve issues at an earlier stage.

“When this government came into office, we inherited a civil legal aid system that had been neglected by the Conservatives," says says Sara Sackman KC, Minister of State for Courts and Legal Services (main image).

“We found legal aid providers under intense pressure working in a civil system beset by backlogs and deteriorating conditions. Providers face serious challenges around retention, profitability and sustainability, meaning that support can be hard to access for many of those who need it most.

“This was particularly evident in the housing and debt sector, and the immigration and asylum sector, both of which face extremely high demand. These are vital areas.”

Step forward

Law Society of England and Wales president, Richard Atkinson (pictured), says: “The increase in legal aid fees for housing and immigration is a positive step toward improving access to justice in many communities.

“While these increases will undoubtedly be seen as making a helpful contribution towards making this work more sustainable for solicitors, the claim by the MoJ that they will make housing and immigration work more profitable is questionable.

“Our research has found that this work is simply not profitable for practitioners at present, indeed a 95% increase is needed to restore fees to 1996 levels, the time when fees were last increased.  

“Without at least an assurance that rates will be maintained in real terms, this increase may not be enough and justice will be a mirage in legal aid deserts across England and Wales.