Page 56 - Solving Housing Disputes

3.6 Nationally, there has been a significant reduction in funding for legal aid over the
past decade, far beyond what was initially foreshadowed by the Government, 130
with the impact felt most severely in civil law. The reduction in funding for law
131

130 Funding of civil legal aid fell from £1.1 billion in 2009/10 to £710 million in 2018/19, Ministry of
Justice, ‘Legal Aid Statistics table, (April to June 2019)’
available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-quarterly-april-to-june-2019

131 The number of applications for fully licensed civil representation has fallen from 203,329 in 2009/10
to 117,053 in 2018/19, Ministry of Justice, ‘Legal Aid Statistics bulletin, England and Wales, (July to
September 2019), table 6.1, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-
quarterly-july-to-september-2019 Applications for non-family, immigration, mental health and other
non-family, which captures housing, fell from 30,0375 in 2009/10 to 14,349 in in 2018/19, a reduction
of over 52% over 10 years.

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