Legal aid underspend on all but drugs cases

Applications to fund drug-related proceedings went up from 37 in 2019 to 56 in 2020, and stayed at that level last year, with 53 applications.

Spending in this area was above budget while the spending for criminal court matters not related to drugs stayed static.

The Legal Aid Service, which is facing a review from Employment & Social Security over the next few months, underspent overall in 2021 by £853,000.

Its budget is formula-led, which means even if it is exceeded it is paid, as is consistent with the interests of justice.

Including administration costs, it spent £1.99m. in 2021, against a budget of £2.84m., compared to £2.38 in 2020.

Last year’s underspend was £654,000 in civil court expenditure – nearly double the 2020 figure – and £193,000 on criminal matters, a further saving of more than £60,000 year-on-year.

The total number of claimants was static compared to previous years, as was the number of people receiving free legal advice in detention.

The Legal Aid Service said that Covid and lockdowns was largely to blame.

‘While it is difficult to pinpoint all the reasons for the underspend, the main cause is the Covid pandemic over a two-year period involving lockdown,’ said legal aid administrator Lucy Haywood in the report.

‘This impacted on the progression of court proceedings which had an effect on reducing the level of advocate’s and expert’s costs.’

Legal aid has frequently overspent on civil matters, covering domestic proceedings in the Magistrate’s Court, the Royal Court, and public law children proceedings in the Juvenile Court.

In total there was an underspend of more than £450,000 in these areas, and the number of applications fell from 417 in 2019 to 264 in 2021. The busiest sector by far was for family matters in the Magistrate’s Court.

‘Because these court proceedings usually continue into the following year or longer, the reduction in applications received in 2020, and the fact that court proceedings could not progress during the two-year pandemic as quickly as before, has had a knock-on effect on 2021 expenditure, hence the large underspend,’ said Mrs Haywood.

Expert fees would usually make up a large percentage of expenditure, including travel and accommodation costs, but that has not been the case for the last two years.

‘As with 2020, very few experts could or were willing to travel to Guernsey to undertake assessments during the pandemic and consequently, we were not funding their travel and accommodation costs, only professional fees if assessments could be undertaken remotely,’ said Mrs Harwood.

‘It was only towards the end of 2021 that we began to see them visiting the island again.’

Eligibility for legal aid is dependent on a financial assessment completed over a 13-week period, where the applicant will be required to provide evidence of all sources of income, capital, bank statements and evidence of rent or mortgage payments.

Anyone receiving income support is automatically eligible for legal aid.

Legal aid has been available from the States since 2001 for criminal matters and 2002 for civil issues, offering clients free or reduced-cost legal advice. It employs five full-time staff.

The review of the service was announced by ESS president Deputy Peter Roffey last month, but the detail of that review has not been published.