'This will ease the backlog': Asylum legal aid rates set to increase for first time in almost 30 years

The government is set to increase the legal aid rates paid to lawyers who take on asylum cases for the first time in nearly 30 years, with an injection of £20million into a system slammed for failing vulnerable refugees.

Legal aid rates, which fund solicitors to help asylum seekers through their cases, have not increased since 1996, a real-terms cut of 48%. An announcement made by the government after a challenge from one law firm means the rates will be uplifted by 29% in London.

A Big Issue investigation into the legal aid crisis found unrepresented asylum seekers were being retraumatised and subject to poor decisions. These decisions were likely to be overturned at appeal, lawyers said, costing the taxpayer more down the line.

The lack of legal aid funding has also been blamed for the UK’s asylum backlog pile-up, as a growing number of firms turn away from the work and cases fail to progress because of a lack of lawyers and judges.

“This investment will help ease the huge asylum backlog, ensuring the efficient running of the system in a way that gets the right decision at the earliest opportunity,” said Richard Atkinson, president of the Law Society.

“Underfunding our justice system denies us a vital public service. The government must now continue acting for the common good and invest across all areas of civil legal aid.”

Facing stagnant funding, big law firms were taking on debt to keep doing legal aid work for cases. The number of asylum cases far outstripped the number of lawyers available.

As a result, lawyers warned vulnerable asylum seekers were facing “life and death” decisions from the Home Office without proper support.

The increase comes after Duncan Lewis, one of the biggest firms working on asylum cases, took the Conservative government to court.

“Legal aid in these areas is put on a far more sustainable footing and those in need of representation will be far more likely to be able to get it when they need it most,” said Jeremy Bloom, a solicitor at Duncan Lewis.

But Bloom warned the rise did not counter the effects of inflation, and said the government should commit to an annual review of legal aid rates “to ensure that people can exercise their right to access justice.”

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