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Duncan Lewis welcomes the announcement by the Lord Chancellor today that she proposes to increase controlled work fees in the areas of Immigration and Asylum and Housing and Debt. The Lord Chancellor proposes to increase hourly rates for this work to £69 per hour for work undertaken in London, to £65 per hour for work undertaken outside London, and to apply a similar percentage increase to standard (fixed) fees for this work.

The decision by the Lord Chancellor was made following a judicial review claim brought by Duncan Lewis challenging the then Lord Chancellor’s failure to increase rates for civil legal aid since 1996, or to take any other action capable of resolving the crisis in immigration and asylum legal aid. That case was settled on 25 September 2024  on the basis that the new Lord Chancellor would make a decision on whether to increase rates for this work in November 2024.

Further to the case brought by Duncan Lewis, on 28 November 2024, Heidi Alexander MP, Minister for Courts and Legal Services wrote to Duncan Lewis to set out the proposed increase in rates which was announced publicly today. In her letter, the Minister acknowledged the challenges facing the immigration and asylum legal aid sector, recognised ‘the significant contributions and insights provided by stakeholders such as Duncan Lewis’, and set out her wish to collaborate on ‘work towards improving the legal aid system’.

The average hourly rate for controlled immigration and asylum work in London is around £53.61. An increase to £69 therefore equates to an increase of around 29%. Our evidence in the claim showed that the current rates are hugely loss-making for Duncan Lewis and for other providers of legal aid, and that the consequence of these loss-making rates was that thousands of individuals with meritorious claims were unable to find representation for their matters of life or death importance.

The rates proposed by the Lord Chancellor mean that this work will once again be sustainable for Duncan Lewis. We will be able to increase the number of cases that we take on and, in time, increase our capacity to represent individuals in need of assistance. We hope that other providers will also be in a position to do so, giving more people a fair chance at being able to secure representation.

The announcement of the Lord Chancellor does not make it clear what exactly the rates will be for different types of controlled immigration work, but we hope that this will be made clear in any consultation document, and we intend to put forward evidence once the Government’s consultation is launched in January.

Rates of pay for this work have not increased since 1996, so the proposed increase is not sufficient to counter the effect of inflation since then, which equates to a real terms cut of 48%. While the proposed increase would make the work sustainable at present, we urge the Government to put in place an annual review mechanism so that rates can keep up with inflation in the future, and so that this work can remain sustainable for providers of legal aid. This will mean that individuals can secure access to legal aid representation at an early stage, saving the Government significant costs in the long run.

Jeremy Bloom, solicitor at Duncan Lewis, said:

We welcome the commitment that the Lord Chancellor has shown to resolving the crisis in legal aid with her proposal to implement a long overdue increase to immigration and asylum, and housing and debt legal aid rates. With the increases proposed in response to the judicial review claim brought by Duncan Lewis, 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. 

 

We look forward to receiving full details of the proposed increases when the Government consults on these changes in January 2025, and urge the Government to put in place an annual review mechanism for legal aid rates of pay so that litigation like this is not necessary in the future to ensure that people can exercise their right to access justice.

The Claim was supported by evidence from across the immigration legal aid sector including: the witness evidence provided in support of the Claim from Wilsons LLP, Care4Calais, and Women Against Rape; responses from Manuel Bravo Project, South London Refugee Association, Refugee Action, SOAS Detainee Support, West London Welcome, Care4Calais, and Migrants Organise and 30 providers of immigration and asylum controlled work to a survey conducted by Duncan Lewis;  the overwhelming evidence from the sector in response to successive consultations and calls for evidence on legal aid including the Law Society, Immigration Law Practitioner's Association, Legal Aid Practitioners Group, Refugee Action, Coram Children's Legal Centre, Dr Jo Wilding, Justice Together, the Refugee Council, the Westminster Commission, the Anti-Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit, Young Legal Aid Lawyers, Public Law Project, Haringey Migrant Support Centre, Bail for Immigration Detainees, Helen Bamber Foundation, and the British Red Cross; and reports from reputable organisations such as the National Audit Office, the Justice and Public Accounts House of Commons Select Committees, and the UN Human Rights Committee.

Duncan Lewis Solicitors was represented by Toufique Hossain, Jeremy Bloom, Nina Kamp and Elizabeth Cole, and instructed Chris Buttler KC, Eleanor Mitchell and Jack Boswell at Matrix Chambers as counsel in the Claim.

Duncan Lewis Solicitors

Duncan Lewis is renowned for its exceptional legal services and commitment to justice. The company employs a team of highly skilled solicitors offering top-tier representation in 25 fields of law, and ranked as top tier by the Chambers and Partners and the Legal 500 legal guides, and as one of the top 250 law firms in the country by the Times. The company was recently crowned Law Firm of the Year 2024 at the LexisNexis awards, and noted for its commitment to providing justice for all.

Duncan Lewis Solicitors was represented by Toufique Hossain, Jeremy Bloom, Nina Kamp and Elizabeth Cole, and instructed counsel Chris Buttler KC, Eleanor Mitchell and Jack Boswell at Matrix Chambers.

About Duncan Lewis and its Public Law Team

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Letter from the Minister for Courts to Duncan Lewis: https://www.duncanlewis.co.uk/onlinelinks/241128%20Ltr%20to%20Duncan%20Lewis.pdf