Legal aid spending England and Wales 2022

In 2021/22 the criminal legal aid budget in England and Wales was 828 million British pounds, compared with 598 million pounds in the previous year. In the provided time period, criminal legal aid peaked in 2005/06 at over 1.66 billion pounds, but between then and the most recent financial year it has fallen significantly in real terms. Civil legal aid has also been cut in the same time period, after peaking at 1.26 billion pounds in 2010/11, it fell to just 686 million pounds by 2015/16.

Resource department expenditure limit (RDEL) of criminal and civil legal aid in England and Wales from 2005/06 to 2021/22 (in million GBP)

Characteristic	Criminal legal aid	Civil legal aid	Central funds
2021/22	828	880	44
2020/21	598	833	32
2019/20	911	803	58
2018/19	947	788	51
2017/18	980	745	54
2016/17	965	722	50
2015/16	984	686	56
2014/15	1,022	788	72
2013/14	1,124	960	95
2012/13	1,185	1,125	116
2011/12	1,354	1,172	122
2010/11	1,449	1,264	96
2009/10	1,379	1,203	111
2008/09	1,491	1,149	93
2007/08	1,577	1,080	85
2006/07	1,603	1,047	71
2005/06	1,664	1,169	96

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Release date

December 2022

More information

Region

United Kingdom (England, Wales)

Survey time period

April 1, 2005 to March 31, 2022

Supplementary notes

Figures are adjusted for inflation
This statistic is using original data from the Government Digital Service and includes copyright material from © Crown, licensed under the Open Government License v3.0

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