Assessing the impact of immigration legal aid cuts under LASPO: the quest for better data – Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law
‘Reducing public spending on legal aid was central to the rationale for the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO). Despite repeated calls for the government to assess the full impact of LASPO on public finances, little progress has been made on this. Qualitative evidence suggests that costs have shifted across government rather than reduced, but more needs to be done to understand the economic costs and benefits of LASPO. The existing qualitative evidence is significant because it demonstrates the serious personal consequences for individuals who are unable to access legal advice, but there is insufficient quantitative data to assess how broadly applicable the qualitative evidence is. Responding to the lack of quantitative data, this article argues that improved data gathering across government must be a priority. This would enable future research to understand the wider economic impact of the legislation. To assess the costs of LASPO we propose a framework synthesising existing qualitative and quantitative data. We also identify quantitative data that can be collected in the future. The article identifies six key hypotheses to be tested, as well as which data are required for this and who could collect them if not currently available.’
Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 18th August 2025
Source: www.tandfonline.com
