Ministers are to announce at least a 10% increase in legal aid fees for immigration and housing work after action by lawyers who warned that the failure to increase rates had led to a paralysis in the system.
Asylum work fees in England and Wales have not increased since 1996, with hourly rates for lawyers stuck at £52. Rates will now increase to £69 in London and £65 outside London, or a 10% rise – whichever is higher – for housing, debt, asylum and immigration work. Fixed-rate fees will also be increasing in proportion with the increase in hourly rates, and lawyers say the increase could be as much as 29%.
