Corporate report

Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25: Performance Report (HTML)

Published 16 October 2025

Applies to England and Wales

Legal Aid Agency Annual Report and Accounts 2024 to 2025

For the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025

Presented to the House of Commons pursuant to Section 7 of the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000.

Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed on 16 October 2025.

IBSN 978-1-5286-5702-0

HC 1276

© Crown copyright 2025

Statement from the Chief Executive

I am pleased to introduce the Legal Aid Agency’s (LAA) Annual Report and Accounts for the 2024 to 2025 financial year. This year has been marked by significant achievements and transformative changes across various operational areas.

I am really proud of the work we do at the LAA. Our core purpose is to administer the legal aid systems in England and Wales to help people access the crucial services they need to deal with their legal problems. We work at the heart of the justice system, providing a vital public service and supporting some of the most vulnerable in our society. Across the LAA and through working with others we have both the responsibility and the means to make a real difference by delivering swift access to justice for those who need it most.

Improving access to justice

We continued working closely with our Ministry of Justice (MOJ) colleagues to make changes to legal aid policy, this included supporting the launch of the Domestic Abuse Protection Orders (DAPO) pilot, which helps vulnerable people get faster access to justice, support and protection. We also updated how we make payments for police station and youth court work, in line with the response to the MOJ’s Crime Lower Consultation.

We successfully rolled out our new service for processing criminal legal aid applications, Apply for Criminal Legal Aid.

We processed 95% of applications for civil legal aid in 20 working days, against a target of 85% and we continue improving our processes and systems for our service users. Exceptional and complex casework has also seen extensive effort across the team to provide a quality service. We processed 82% of exceptional and complex case applications and emergency applications in 25 working days, only narrowly meeting our target of 80%. We also processed 88% of exceptional case funding applications in 25 working days, against a target of 85%.

The Public Defender Service (PDS) continued to represent clients through advice, representation and advocacy and exceeded its target for accepting duty solicitor calls that are offered, achieving an excellent 99% response rate. In the last year the PDS employed six pupil barristers and four trainee solicitors as part of a new training programme.

Operational improvements and innovation

We continued overhauling our procurement approach by introducing ‘always on’, allowing organisations to apply for contracts or expand the scope of their services at any time, not just during fixed tender windows. The procurement exercise for the Standard Crime Contract began in September 2024 under ‘always on’ and provides more flexibility for bidders during the application process. The contract will run for ten years from 1 October 2025, double the typical term of previous contracts. During this period the full benefits of ‘always on’ will be available to new and existing contract holders. ‘Always on’ was fully introduced to the Standard Civil Contract in December 2024. These changes, along with updated supervision ratios, aim to make it easier for providers to join, reduce administrative burdens, and encourage innovation.

The LAA is collaborating with MOJ Policy to improve how we handle legal aid contract procurement, particularly concentrating on provider office requirements, which represent a significant business overhead, set by the LAA. The tender for the Standard Crime Contract announced our intention to review office requirements. In its consultation in January 2025, MOJ Policy sought views on office requirements for civil legal aid providers. The LAA will work with MOJ Policy and in consultation with stakeholders to determine what if any changes should be made. The Civil Legal Advice specialist contracts, a wholly remote service, will allow the successful provider to decide their own office requirements.

We made payments accurately and on time throughout the year, with 99% of complete, accurate, eligible bills paid within 20 working days, against a target of 95%. We have throughout the year consistently surpassed this target for both crime and civil payments. We have also maintained excellent levels of service delivery for processing legal aid applications, ensuring that we process 100% of applications for criminal legal aid within two working days.

As well as addressing error to ensure we manage public money effectively, the LAA had targets during 2024 to 2025 for debt recovery of £6.2 million for unsecured civil debt and £24.7 million for cash and secured crime debt. We consider recovery of 95% of the debt targets to be a successful outcome and we exceeded this with an overall recovery level of 111%. This comprised of a 96% recovery rate for civil debt and a 115% recovery rate for crime debt.

We secured extra funding to improve our services and move away from outdated systems. We have a set of shared aims to transform the delivery of legal aid along with policy and digital colleagues concentrating on the user experience, productivity, sustainability and security.

Cyber attack and response

I would like to acknowledge that we have been responding to a cyber attack that was detected in April 2025, with investigations determining that systems were breached from December 2024. This has been a very challenging time for the agency and the dedicated providers who work with us. We have confirmed that some provider information was accessed, including bank account numbers and sort codes. With respect to legal aid clients, we know that personal data which may have included contact details and addresses, dates of birth, national insurance numbers, criminal history, employment status and some LAA case-specific financial data, was accessed. In some instances, information about the partners of legal aid applicants may be included in the compromised data. I would like to thank colleagues across LAA and our partners for their tireless dedication to the vital services we provide, professionalism and speed reacting to this. More detail on the attack can be found on page 65.

I would also like to express my thanks to colleagues across MOJ and experts at the National Crime Agency, the Government Cyber Coordination Centre and the National Cyber Security Centre for their continued support and guidance during this incident. We have learnt important lessons through responding to this criminal attack over the last few months and my departmental colleagues and I are ensuring that lessons are captured and learnt from.

Looking ahead

As the focus on the LAA moves to the new reporting year, it is important that I acknowledge the challenges that lie ahead as a result of the criminal attack on our systems. Following restoration of systems there will be a period of recovery in which we will need to provide the best possible service for the public that we can while emerging from contingency measures. We will continue to work proactively with our providers in order to do this. I remain optimistic that recovery will result in the long-needed development of more resilient, user-friendly and streamlined services, creating a solid foundation for future transformation.

Jane Harbottle CBE

Chief Executive and Accounting Officer

Legal Aid Agency

8 October 2025

Statement from the Non-Executive Board Chair

The role of the LAA Board is to challenge and support our Executive Leadership Team (ELT). The board’s focus during the period of this report has been on developing a funded plan to address the agency’s legacy technology challenges and finding ways to simplify the legal aid journey for solicitors and barristers. I am pleased with the progress the agency has made during the year towards both these goals and, more generally, towards its overall objective of enabling eligible citizens to obtain the support they need, when they need it and to do so through a process which is as straightforward and accessible as possible.

The provision of legal aid relies upon the commitment, hard work and professionalism of everyone at the agency and the thousands of barristers and solicitors who work tirelessly, in often difficult circumstances, to support the needs of their often vulnerable clients. The regulations governing legal aid are complicated, with an associated burden in terms of administration. Added to this, the agency’s digital systems are old and difficult to maintain and update in keeping with the significant policy reforms which have been made and continue to be made in legal aid. The board’s task is to work with ministers and LAA management to chart a course, not just for the agency, but for the legal aid schemes at large, to a simplified and more efficient model of approving and paying for legal aid.

That goal is realistic only because of the dedication of LAA staff and legal aid providers across England and Wales, whose belief in the importance of legal aid to a well-functioning legal system motivates them to go the extra mile. Despite the challenges presented by our aged digital systems, our staff succeeded again this year in meeting or exceeding our operational targets, including making 95% of payments due to providers within 20 working days and approving 90% of high-cost family counsel case plans. This was achieved while keeping our net error ratio below 1%. The board is conscious that the attention to detail that enables this immaterial rate of error can be a source of frustration to overburdened legal aid providers. Regrettably, this is unavoidable, however, conscious of the challenges providers face, and determined to do what we can to make their lives easier, we are committed to finding ways to reduce administrative burdens where possible.

My highlights from the year include:

• the development of the new, simpler, crime contract, which commences on 1 October 2025, has made a significant contribution to our aim of removing barriers to entry and allowing providers greater flexibility. The new crime contract is underpinned by the ‘always on’ procurement feature which has already enabled both civil and crime providers greater flexibility to expand their operations and tender for work in new areas during the life of the contract. The supporting procurement process has also been simplified and streamlined to reduce the impact on providers
• significant progress towards securing a multi-year funding schedule to rehabilitate or replace the agency’s outdated technology and systems
• the announcement of £92 million investment for Criminal Legal Aid Solicitors, which aims to deliver justice for victims, and create a more sustainable sector

The board met formally six times this year. Our focus has largely been as described above, but we have also discussed market capacity and sustainability, the agency’s financial performance, and our updated People Plan, amongst other corporate issues. I thank my fellow Non-Executive Board Members Kenneth Gill and Professor Suzanne Rab for their insight and guidance provided beyond formal board meetings. We have begun the process to recruit two new board members, whom I look forward to welcoming in due course.

Unfortunately, the new financial year began under challenging circumstances, with a cyber attack detected in April, as a result of which we have disabled the majority of our digital systems. Our business continuity arrangements, while not perfect, have performed well, thanks to the extraordinary efforts of our staff, and the patience of legal aid providers. This incident has emphasised the criticality of timely and adequate investment in the agency’s technology and systems, which will continue to be the board’s principal focus in the year to come.

Nick Campsie

Lead Non-Executive Board Member

8 October 2025

Performance Overview

The performance overview summarises information about the agency. It includes our purpose and strategic objectives and a summary of how we have performed during the year. You can find more detailed information on our performance on pages 18-29.

Processing / Delivery

• We processed more than 380,000 applications for legal aid (more than 360,000 in 2023 to 2024)
• 95% of civil legal aid applications were processed within 20 working days except in the most complex cases (93% in 2023 to 2024)
• 100% of criminal legal aid applications processed within two working days (100% in 2023 to 2024)
• We processed over 1.45 million bills (over 1.3 million in 2023 to 2024)
• 99% of complete, accurate bills were paid within 20 working days, exceeding the 95% target (99% in 2023 to 2024)

Our people

• Our average working days lost stands at 6.5 for the 12 months to March 2025 more than 5.2 for the same rolling period in March 2024
• Over 52% of our people had no sickness absence during the 12 months to March 2025 (57% in 2023 to 2024)
• Our staff engagement score increased by one percentage point to 71% in the annual People Survey. With an 84% response rate (87% in 2023 to 2024) we are confident this represents the experience of most of our people

Reputation

• We answered over 123,000 phone calls to our call centres (over 130,000 in 2023 to 2024), and exceeded all our customer service and correspondence Key Performance Indicator targets

About the Legal Aid Agency

Our purpose: Working with others to achieve excellence in the delivery of legal aid

Our work to administer legal aid is essential to the fair, efficient and effective operation of the civil, family and criminal justice systems and we have worked closely with legal providers and the wider MOJ to achieve this. Our purpose has been at the heart of all our day-to-day decision-making and our work to improve legal aid services. The engagement and commitment of our staff is crucial to achieving this.

LAA Vision

To support swift access to justice, through working with others to achieve excellence in the delivery of legal aid.

LAA Mission

Work with providers of our services to ensure fair, prompt and effective access to civil and criminal legal aid and advice in England and Wales. We work across the whole of the justice system to make sure our services meet the needs of everyone who uses them, including the most vulnerable in our society.

Our work is underpinned by our three Strategic Objectives:

Strategic Objective 1 Deliver access to justice through legal aid services that meet the needs of our users

Strategic Objective 2 Modernise our services, delivering value for money for taxpayers

Strategic Objective 3 Become a truly diverse and inclusive employer of choice

Further detail on our Strategic Objectives can be found on pages 18-29 of the Performance Analysis section.

These Strategic Objectives support the wider work of the MOJ, linking to the department’s strategic outcome of providing swift access to justice.

This provides the direction that supports our work to improve and modernise the LAA, securing value for money for the taxpayer and ensuring that our people have the right skills and tools to carry out their roles.

Our organisational structure

The LAA is an executive agency of the MOJ. The LAA’s role is to commission and administer legal aid services in England and Wales, taking account of the relevant provisions of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act 2012 and the policy and strategy set by ministers and the MOJ. The LAA Chief Executive and Accounting Officer is supported by the LAA Board and the Executive Leadership Team (ELT).

We have around 1,200 members of staff, you can find details on the composition of our workforce on page 77. Details of our governance and management structure are in the governance statement on pages 44-66. The principal risks are given on page 30 and pages 55-61.

Our people

The success of the LAA is centred around the skill and commitment of our people. They are central to everything we deliver and a focus this year has been on ensuring they have the skills, tools and leadership they need to do their role effectively.

A focus on leadership, wellbeing, learning and development and inclusion were key aspects of our People Plan during 2024 to 2025 to enable our staff to perform to the best of their ability. We want to ensure our people are engaged in their work and feel included at every level to enable our staff to perform to the best of their ability.

Our learning and development (L&D) offer was tailored to meet the needs of our staff and alongside development programmes ensured our people had access to the right learning when they needed it. Working collaboratively with other agencies we ensured a diverse range of opportunities were available throughout the year for all our people.

Over the last two years we have ensured compliance with the Civil Service and MOJ recruitment principles and are committed to continually improve the recruitment process for both the applicant and the recruiting manager.

We have continued our zero tolerance to bullying, harassment and discrimination and delivering our Tackling Unacceptable Behaviour and Bystander Training.

We supported our managers throughout the year through training sessions, one to one support and delivered regular updates on the work of the agency and future change through all-staff calls. We have embedded a Line Managers Fundamentals Programme to support new line managers in role and have introduced Line Managers Wellbeing Training. We celebrated the achievements of our people through our staff awards and through the monthly CEO awards.

We continue to strive to make the LAA a great place to work, recruiting and retaining the best people, increasing diversity at higher grades and delivering against our People Plan. The People Survey results for 2024 continue to show an increase in engagement, building on previously high engagement scores. This ensures the LAA continues to provide a positive working environment, a key element of our plans to retain staff.

Our partners

As a critical part of the justice system in England and Wales, we work with a wide range of providers of legal services covering many different business models. These include sole practitioners, barristers, large multi-office businesses and not-for-profit organisations. Some provide advice and specialise in a specific area of law, while others deliver work in many different categories of law. We recognise that delivery, evaluation and collaboration are key enablers for achieving the MOJ’s strategic outcome.

We work with stakeholders across the justice system. These include the Law Society and Bar Council, both the Family and Criminal Justice Boards, the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Legal Aid Practitioners Group. We also work with other government departments and arm’s length bodies including His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS), the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the Home Office. Our relationships with our providers are central to the work of the LAA.

Through meetings such as the Crime and Civil Contract Consultative Groups and the Provider Engagement Team, we ensure we have regular engagement on key operational issues and opportunities with the main representative bodies. Our contract managers and case management staff work closely with our provider-base on a daily basis to ensure the smooth running of our contracts and the processing of applications and bills.

We communicate with our partners across a number of channels, including our GOV.UK page, the LAA bulletin, which goes to almost 9,000 subscribers, LinkedIn and our two X channels. These channels work effectively to ensure providers are kept up to date on time-critical changes, system or policy updates and ensuring good responses to tenders.

Engagement in Wales

The LAA, through strategic working groups, maintains links with the Welsh Government, in recognition of the devolved administration.

We work directly with stakeholder groups, for example, the Criminal and Family Justice Boards for Wales, as well as specific Welsh stakeholders including Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service – CAFCASS Cymru.

Director of Legal Aid Casework

The LASPO Act 2012 ensured that the decision-making process for legal aid applications remained independent from ministers. The role of Director of Legal Aid Casework (DLAC), which was created by the LASPO Act 2012, has responsibility for making decisions on individual applications for legal aid. The LAA’s Chief Executive undertakes this role, in practice delegating decision-making to LAA caseworkers and providers. The LAA Board supports the DLAC to make sure that robust practices are in place to maintain the independence of the decision-making process. The DLAC publishes a separate annual report setting out how the functions have been carried out over the financial year.

The Public Defender Service

The Public Defender Service (PDS) provides defence, advice and representation for legally aided defendants, in all types of criminal cases from the police station to the higher courts. The PDS has four solicitor offices across England and Wales. PDS advocates conduct cases throughout the country and can be instructed by any solicitor firm or legally aided defendant. The PDS has a client-centred approach to criminal defence and has developed specialisms in working with vulnerable clients and providing prison law advice. The PDS continues to retain its Lexcel accreditation demonstrating its high standard of technical expertise and client service in criminal law. PDS lawyers share their experience of the criminal justice system to inform related policy and change initiatives. The PDS continues to embrace digital solutions to represent clients virtually, alongside advising and representing in person.

Spending Review

The work of the LAA has directly supported the priorities of the government through 2024 to 2025, ensuring that all funding and activity has been in line with the requirements of ministers of the previous and current administrations. The LAA’s performance against those priorities is set out in the Performance Analysis section of this report on pages 18-29.

Since the General Election, the LAA has fully engaged in the Spending Review process. To ensure that this approach has fully considered government priorities and the strategic challenges of delivering legal aid, the LAA has worked in partnership with MOJ across Strategy, Policy and Digital to agree a shared approach to investment, transformation and efficiency. This resulted in a clear case for urgent action to address the chronic underinvestment in technology, combined with multiple policy changes over many years, that led to a digital architecture of over 100 system components that are low value for money and high risk.

Justice Digital secured initial investment of £10.5 million (for 2024 to 2025) and over £20 million (for 2025 to 2026) to begin stabilisation of the most at-risk systems and for transformation to introduce new systems. The LAA secured £2 million for staffing resource to support working with Justice Digital to maximise the impact of our Spending Review investment.

The risk from digital systems materialised with the cyber attack that was detected in April 2025, with investigations determining that systems were breached from December 2024 and the impact of this will inform our approach to allocations as part of phase 2 of the Spending Review. We expect to accelerate the delivery of a more secure, adaptable and efficient service for legal aid that will support the government to achieve its goals for the justice system and provide an improved service for both those in need of legal aid and those providing legal aid services.

Transformation and change

We continue to work to modernise our digital infrastructure and reduce reliance on outdated systems.

We successfully rolled out our new service for processing applications, Apply for Criminal Legal Aid. As of 6 August 2024 this service receives all criminal legal aid applications. Now that initial functionality is in place, we are continuing to work with LAA Digital to iterate and improve the service, including adding search functionality and showing outcome decisions on the provider dashboard.

We continue to invest in the Apply for Civil Legal Aid service. 205 providers are now using it with over 38,105 applications successfully submitted on the new service so far. We look forward to continuing to develop capabilities to allow public law applications through the service, as well as onboarding more firms to process applications through the service.

LAA awarded a replacement Crown Court Means Testing (CCMT) debt collection and enforcement contract to Advantis Credit Ltd. in August 2024 following a competitive procurement exercise. The new contract went live on 3 February 2025 after replacing the legacy process with an Application Programming Interface (API) built to modern technical specifications and data security standards.

We implemented a number of legal aid policy changes during 2024 to 2025. The established Criminal Legal Aid Advisory Board (CLAAB) published their first annual report on 14 November 2024, which was also presented to the Lord Chancellor. The MOJ responded to the Crime Lower consultation, which concluded in early 2024, announcing an increase of £24 million per annum for police stations and youth courts. A statutory instrument was laid on 14 November 2024 and came into force on 6 December 2024 to bring these changes into effect. A further announcement was made on 19 December 2024 of an additional £92 million per annum investment for Criminal Legal Aid Solicitors.

In addition, the Domestic Abuse Protection Order (DAPO) was launched on 27 November 2024 as a pilot in three geographical locations: Greater Manchester and three boroughs of South London (Bromley, Croydon and Sutton) and with the British Transport Police. The new orders bring together and build upon the strongest elements of existing protective measures, into one flexible and powerful order which covers all types of domestic abuse. The policy is cross-jurisdictional, meaning it can be heard in any court setting and permits victims, the police and selected third parties to apply for the orders. While the policy is led by the MOJ and Home Office, the LAA provides access to justice by ensuring legal aid funding is available for both victims and respondents of a DAPO (subject to eligibility). Innovative, flexible orders such as this provide swifter access to justice, support and protection for some of the most vulnerable in society and supports the government’s commitment to reduce violence against women and girls. Next year, we will continue to support the DAPO pilot as it expands into additional areas and works towards national rollout.

The government has allocated an additional over £20 million in 2025 to 2026 to stabilise LAA digital systems and transform legal aid. This will be critical to support our response to the cyber attack that was detected in April 2025, with investigations determining that systems were breached from December 2024, as we work to restore systems and create a modern, user-friendly and resilient service at pace.

Performance Analysis

This section provides a detailed view of how we performed against our business plan priorities and main performance indicators this reporting year as well as our risk position and sustainability report.

Our year in focus

In our twelfth year as an executive agency we have continued to deliver service and process improvements, positively impacting on timeliness and accuracy of decisions and payments. This was achieved while continuing to deliver strong performance against our Strategic Objectives and operational targets.

Performance against our Strategic Objectives in 2024 to 2025

The commitments associated with our Strategic Objectives have been monitored through the LAA’s performance management framework, which includes Key Performance Indicators (KPI) that measure significant elements of our day-to-day work.

The performance management framework also measures key milestones in relation to the delivery of the LAA 2024 to 2025 Business Plan commitments. We published an updated LAA Strategy in February 2023 supporting delivery of our strategic enablers:

• user-centred
• right decisions, first time
• simplified and sustainable
• a responsive, diverse, learning organisation

Throughout the year the results were reported to, and scrutinised by, the ELT, the LAA Board and the MOJ Executive Committee.

As a result of the cyber attack, we anticipate significant disruption to performance against objectives for 2025 to 2026. As we restore services and recover from the attack we will prioritise resources to process work resulting from the incident and deployment of contingency measures, alongside new intakes of applications and bills as we aim to return to target performance levels.

Strategic Objective 1 Deliver access to justice through legal aid services that meet the needs of our users

KPI: Service Delivery

Milestones (for details of milestones in full please see page 23)

• Ensure all service targets for 2024 to 2025 are met
• Policy reforms for implementation in 2023 to 2024 are delivered
• Our PDS will provide access to justice for clients through continual coverage of services that meet their needs
• Run tenders to secure criminal and civil legal aid providers and consult on contract changes to support the ongoing provision of legal aid services

Strategic Objective 2 Modernise our services, delivering value for money for taxpayers

KPI: Accuracy and accountability

Milestones (for details of milestones in full please see pages 22-23)

• Continue delivery of new Apply service for both Apply for Criminal Legal Aid and Apply for Civil Legal Aid
• We will provide operational guidance to help with:
  • phase 2 of the government’s response to the Criminal Legal Aid Independent Review (CLAIR)
  • the Review of Civil Legal Aid (RoCLA)
  • Check if your client qualifies (CCQ) – our new service for checking whether clients qualify for legal aid will be released to all providers
  • progress in implementing the remaining phases of the Means Test Review, starting with the accelerated measures

Strategic Objective 3 Become a truly diverse and inclusive employer of choice

KPI: A responsive, diverse, learning organisation

Milestones (for details of milestones in full please see pages 28-29)

• Refresh and continue to deliver our Tackling Unacceptable Behaviour Action Plan
• Improve and update our approach to change
• Enhance the capability of our people

Strategic Objective 1 Deliver access to justice through legal aid services that meet the needs of our users

KPI: for applications from our clients. Our six performance measures were met and exceeded

• Processing 85% of applications for civil legal aid (end‑to‑end) within 20 working days. Achieved, 95% this year. An increase on 93% in 2023 to 2024 (93% in 2022 to 2023).
• Processing 90% of applications for criminal legal aid within 2 working days. Achieved, 100% this year. Maintaining the 100% delivered in 2023 to 2024 (100% in 2022 to 2023).
• Processing 80% of applications for civil amendments (excluding exceptional and complex cases) processed end‑to‑end in 20 working days. Achieved, 89% this year. An increase on 88% in 2023 to 2024 (86% in 2022 to 2023).
• Processing 80% of exceptional and complex cases applications in 25 working days. Achieved, 82% this year. An increase on 79% in 2023 to 2024 (79% in 2022 to 2023).
• Processing 85% of applications for exceptional case funding in 25 working days. Achieved, 88% this year. An increase on 81% in 2023 to 2024 (83% in 2022 to 2023).
• Processing 90% of civil application appeals (excluding exceptional and complex cases) that do not need an external adjudicator to be processed within 20 working days. Achieved, 94% this year. An increase on 90% in 2023 to 2024 (92% in 2022 to 2023).

KPI: for payments to our providers. Both performance measures were met and exceeded

• 95% of complete, accurate, eligible bills paid within 20 working days (monies received in account by provider). Achieved, 99% this year. Maintaining the 99% delivered in 2023 to 2024 (99% in 2022 to 2023).
• 95% of civil billing appeals that do not need an external adjudicator to be processed within 20 working days. Achieved, 100% this year. Maintaining the 100% delivered in 2023 to 2024 (100% in 2022 to 2023).

KPI: for telephone services. Our three measures were met and exceeded

• 75% of crime calls to our customer services unit answered within five minutes. Achieved, 79% this year. A decrease on 87% delivered in 2023 to 2024 (91% in 2022 to 2023).
• 75% of civil calls to our customer services unit answered within five minutes. Achieved, 85% this year. Maintaining the 85% delivered in 2023 to 2024 (82% in 2022 to 2023).
• 90% of duty solicitor calls offered to the PDS to be accepted. Achieved, 99% this year. An increase on the 98% delivered in 2023 to 2024 (99% in 2022 to 2023).

KPI: for correspondence. Our seven measures were met and exceeded

• 90% of first tier (initial) complaints within 20 working days. Achieved, 100% this year. Maintaining the 100% delivered in 2023 to 2024 (99% in 2022 to 2023).
• 90% of second tier (unresolved at first tier) complaints within 20 working days. Achieved, 100% this year. Maintaining the 99% delivered in 2023 to 2024 (99% in 2022 to 2023).
• 90% of MP correspondence within 20 working days. Achieved, 100% this year. Maintaining the 100% delivered in 2023 to 2024 (100% in 2022 to 2023).
• 100% of Freedom of Information Act requests within 20 working days. Achieved, 100% this year. Maintaining the 100% delivered in 2023 to 2024 (100% in 2022 to 2023).
• 100% of Internal Review requests within 20 working days. Achieved, 100% this year. Maintaining the 100% delivered in 2023 to 2024 (100% in 2022 to 2023).
• 100% of Data Protection Act 2018 requests within 30 calendar days. Achieved, 100% this year. An increase on 99% delivered in 2023 to 2024 (99% in 2022 to 2023).
• 90% of Parliamentary Questions (PQ) responded to within 48 hours (named day PQs within 24 hours). Achieved, 100% this year. Maintaining the 100% delivered in 2023 to 2024 (100% in 2022 to 2023).

Milestones	Were the milestones met?
Ensure all service targets for 2024 to 2025 are met to support the effective operation of the justice system.	Met. All service targets across applications, payments and customer service meeting or exceeding targets in both civil and crime.
Policy reforms for implementation in 2024 to 2025 are delivered through revised business processes and digital development ensuring continued, effective delivery of all legal aid services.	Met. All policy reforms were implemented on time during 2024 to 2025, including the accelerated measures of Means Test Review and the introduction of Domestic Abuse Protection Orders and Notices (both in November 2024).
Our Public Defender Service will provide access to justice for clients through continual coverage of services that meet their needs.	Met. The Public Defender Service (PDS) has continued to represent clients through advice and representation and advocacy and has exceeded its target for accepting duty solicitor calls that are offered, achieving an excellent 99% response rate.
Run tenders to support provision of legal aid services including: • Standard Civil Contract and Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service (HLPAS) with contracts in place for September 2024 • Standard Crime Contract tender launch September 2024 with tender activity completed and contracts in place for October 2025	Met. The 2024 Standard Civil Contract now operates under the ‘always on’ approach. As a result, new bids are being processed through to contract award within weeks. The procurement process for the 2025 Standard Crime Contract commenced as planned. Improvements include a ten-year term, halving tender frequency, and the introduction of ‘always on’ to simplify the tender process and operation of the contract.

Strategic Objective 2 Modernise our services, delivering value for money for taxpayers

KPI: accuracy and accountability.

• Minimise our net error rate, ensuring it remains below 1%. Achieved, 0.82% this year. An increase in error compared to 0.68% in 2023 to 2024 (0.96% in 2022 to 2023).

KPI: financial management

• Deliver our services within our agreed legal aid Admin spend. Achieved.
• Monitor our legal aid Fund spend to inform future planning and engagement with HM Treasury. Achieved.

Milestones	Were the milestones met?
Continue delivery of new Apply service: • all criminal legal aid applications will be processed through our new Apply for Criminal Legal Aid service by Autumn 2024. • Apply for Civil Legal Aid functionality will expand to include other case types by year end (March 2025).	Met. Service mandated from August 2024 and legacy service turned off in October 2024. All Crime applications received via Apply for Criminal Legal Aid from October 2024. Met. One case type (special Children’s Act) released with the second (Public Law Family) going live in March 2025.
The LAA will run a new tender for the 2024 Standard Civil Contract 2024 in December 2024. It includes ‘always on’ procurement which means organisations can apply to join the contract at any time and existing providers can bid to expand their services during the life of the contract. This approach aligns with the tender for the 2025 Standard Crime Contract.	Met. The 2024 Standard Civil Contract commenced in December 2024 resulting in a successful move to an ‘always on’ procurement process.
Continue to make progress in implementing the remaining phases of the Means Test Review, starting with the accelerated measures.	Met. The previous government’s Means Test Review accelerated measures were successfully implemented on 20 November 2024. The LAA will work collaboratively with the MoJ to implement any further policy changes to the civil and criminal legal aid means tests.
Begin to stabilise and transform the systems and processes used to deliver legal aid as part of a multi-year approach to improve the experience for service users, increase operational efficiency and improve system flexibility and security.	In progress. Funding for 2024 to 2025 has been used to begin to stabilise LAA legacy technology, laying the groundwork for future transformation. Three systems have been targeted initially with user operational research informing future design to support improved experience for service users.

Strategic Objective 3 Become a truly diverse and inclusive employer of choice

KPI: supporting our people to be productive and engaged

• Monitor our average working days lost through sickness at 7.0 working days per year or less. Achieved, 6.5 working days this year, which is less than 5.2 in 2023 to 2024 (6.9 for 2022 to 2023) (the figure is based on the previous rolling 12-month period).
• Increase the percentage of people who are able to access the right learning and development opportunities when they need to. Achieved, 82% of responses were positive in the 2024 People Survey, an increase of two percentage point on 2023. Increase the percentage of people who consider that learning and development activities they have completed in their organisation are helping them develop their career. Achieved, 60% of responses were positive, an increase of one percentage point on 2023.

KPI: zero tolerance to bullying and harassment

• Reduce the number of our people who answer ‘prefer not to say’ (PNTS) to the bullying and harassment question in the annual People Survey. Not achieved. The number of staff who answered PNTS has remained at 4% (4% in 2023). Further detail from this KPI was redacted because it was below the anonymity threshold and therefore the result can not be published to ensure the anonymity of respondents.
• Increase the number of people who report bullying and harassment having said they have experienced it in the People Survey. Partially achieved. The result of this KPI was redacted because it was below the anonymity threshold and therefore the result can not be published to ensure the anonymity of respondents.
• Increase the number of our people who feel that their bullying and harassment report was dealt with effectively. Partially achieved. The result of this KPI was redacted because it was below the anonymity threshold and therefore the result can not be published to ensure the anonymity of respondents.
• Decrease the amount of our people who feel the culture in their area allows this behaviour to continue. Partially achieved. The result of this KPI was redacted because it was below the anonymity threshold and therefore the result can not be published to ensure the anonymity of respondents.

KPI: representative of the people we serve

• Increase the level of our ethnicity and disability declaration reporting each year by reducing the percentage of staff with no positive declaration 10% during the year. Not achieved. 16% of our staff chose not to declare their ethnicity and 18% chose not to declare their disability characteristics. The level of staff not making declarations has increased and we have not met our targets.
• 50/50 split between male and female staff across the LAA with further analysis by grade to drive further equality where needed. Not achieved. 37% of our staff are male and 63% of our staff are female.
• Not achieved. 17.7% in 2024 to 2025 declared as being from a diverse ethnic minority across the LAA, against a target of 18% or above, with further analysis by grade to drive further equality where needed (17% in 2023 to 2024).
• 21% or above of our people declared as having a disability across the LAA with further analysis by grade to drive further equality where needed. Achieved, 21% of our staff have declared as having a disability (20% in 2023 to 2024).

Milestones	Were the milestones met?
Build line manager capabilities to support employee wellbeing, productivity, and address any workplace issues effectively, and consistently.	Met. As part of the Workforce Wellbeing Improvement Plan, interactive training sessions have been delivered to line managers to build capability and increase confidence and consistency of approach in supporting employee wellbeing. The delivery of a Line Managers Fundamentals programme designed to equip LAA colleagues with the foundational skills and knowledge to grow and succeed as line managers.
We will identify actions to improve staff experience so that we are able to recruit and retain the people we need to deliver our services effectively.	Met. Tackling unacceptable behaviours and bystander training has been rolled out and is now part of line managers continued professional development offering. 92% of our recruitment panels were diverse in terms of gender and up to 87% were diverse in terms of either ethnicity or disability. A successful pilot for case management entry level roles to simplify the application process was implemented.
Design and implement learning interventions tailored to address specific business needs to include a talent management strategy and embedding the Operational Delivery Profession (ODP).	Partially met. Captured learning needs from departments across the agency, particular needs have been identified that have included, for example, pension awareness. Rising Together Programme has been approved for ongoing delivery. This addresses an ongoing issue of a lack of visible leaders at higher grades for ethnic minority colleagues. ODP skills framework and associated career development opportunities were promoted across the agency this year.
Increase the number and range of directly recruited apprentices and provide a framework for their development.	Partially met. Apprenticeship promotion and support were a focus for the agency this year and this will continue next year. A cross-government apprenticeship trailblazer group, undertaking a review of the Level 3 Public Service Operational Delivery Officer standard and preparing the agency for implementation for entry level caseworker roles was also an area of focus.
Develop and communicate a comprehensive and strategic workforce plan for the LAA that meets future workforce needs and demand for our services.	Partially met. Workforce plans are in place across the agency to ensure capacity to deliver operational needs, areas of workforce risk have been identified. Development of a strategic workforce plan is underway to ensure the agency has the right workforce to deliver agency transformation.

Risk position

Risk position at the end of quarter four of 2024 to 2025 and as we look to the future.

Further insight into our risk profile can be found in our governance section, pages 44-66.

Figure 1. Risk position for 2024 to 2025

Bullseye graphic showing risks broken down into four areas: operation, strategy and people, policy and legal and financial. Each area lists risks in three categories: Current risks (centre of the bullseye), Other monitored risks (middle ring), Risk horizon (outer ring, representing emerging risks).

• Operational:
  • Current risks: technical debt; transformation and change; IT system failure; cyber attack
  • Other monitored risks: none
  • Risk horizon: artificial intelligence; provider recruitment; external influence
• Strategy and people:
  • Current risks: digital resource; retention
  • Other monitored risks: staff pay and benefits; recruitment
  • Risk horizon: subject matter expert resource
• Policy and legal:
  • Current risks: GDPR compliance
  • Other monitored risks: policy changes; market sustainability
  • Risk horizon: disruptive action
• Financial:
  • Current risks: spending review; net error rate
  • Other monitored risks: fund spend; fraud
  • Risk horizon: future spending reviews

Financial management commentary

This section provides commentary on our performance during the past year and supports the financial statements. The financial statements are set out from pages 89-132. Note 2 to the financial statements on page 107 details the net operating costs for each of the segments below and notes 3-5 on pages 106-109 set out expenditure and income in detail. Figure 2 shows the largest movements, comparing 2024 to 2025 with 2023 to 2024, in legal aid spend by scheme.

Figure 2. Legal Aid Agency net expenditure, £2.4 billion. An increase of £114 million compared to previous year

Crime Higher £934.1 million (£867.3 million in 2023 to 2024). Increased by 7.7% caused by increased billing volumes within the graduated fee schemes along with smaller increases in prices

Civil Representation £861.7 million (£841.7 million in 2023 to 2024). Increased by 2.4% caused primarily by an increase in spend across the non-family areas, with the largest increases seen in Mental Health and Community Care

Crime Lower £303.4 million (£306.5 million in 2023 to 2024). Decreased by 1.0% due to increases in spend on police work, offset against reductions in work in progress

Legal Help £129.0 million (£124.5 million in 2023 to 2024). Increased by 3.6% due to higher activity across legal help contract work

Administration: £104.4 million (£89.9 million in 2023 to 2024). Increased by 16.1% caused by increases in staff costs and in recharges for digital technology

Central Funds £67.7 million (£56.2 million in 2023 to 2024). Increased by 20.5% due to increases in cross examination of witnesses and intermediaries

Significant items in the LAA’s Statement of Financial Position

Provision for liabilities and other charges

This is for work that has been completed by solicitors, barristers and advice agencies but has not yet been billed. The value of this work in progress is estimated by taking the number of cases that have been reported as started and estimating the activity that has taken place using historical profiles of case costs and durations for each individual scheme of legal aid. The majority of the remaining liabilities of the LAA are for bills received but not yet processed, which are treated as trade payables, and any unpaid work reported in Payment on Account (POA) claims, which are treated as accruals.

Trade and other receivables

This includes money due from legal aid providers and clients who have received legal aid, with the majority being due under a statutory charge. Statutory charges arise when legally aided clients successfully gain or retain an asset as a result of the legal assistance they receive. In these circumstances the client must repay the cost of their legal aid. If the client has insufficient disposable assets to repay the legal aid, the LAA gains security over the debt by registering a formal charge over the relevant asset. The Lord Chancellor is entitled to defer enforcement of this charge and to accrue interest against this debt at 8% simple interest until such time that the claimant is able to repay the debt. The debt will either be recovered when the asset is sold, or before if the client has the means to repay it sooner. Clients are encouraged to repay the debt as soon as they are able to minimise interest charges.

Functional reform

Corporate and professional functions are provided to the LAA by MOJ and include: commercial, digital, finance, people, project delivery, property and security.

Government functions have been working together to set and embed the use of functional standards. Functional standards exist to create a coherent, effective and mutually understood way of doing business within central government organisations. These standards are mandated for use across central government and provide a stable basis for assurance, risk management and capability improvement. Throughout 2024 to 2025, the functions’ understanding of the requirements of their cross government functional standards has matured. All functions are currently participating in an ongoing programme of continuous improvement and engagement.

Sustainability report

We are committed to creating a sustainable, effective and efficient estate that provides value for money for the taxpayer, reduces our environmental impact and allows transformation of the way civil servants work. We recognise that sustainability is a key enabler for the MOJ to contribute to the Greening Government Commitments (GGCs).

Our strategy for sustainability focuses on:

MOJ’s Climate Change and Sustainability Strategy^{[footnote 1]} sets out the department’s aims and objectives for improving the sustainability of its estate and operations, in line with the GGCs.

It links to various other strategies covering carbon, water, waste (circular economy), nature and biodiversity, single-use plastics and sustainable procurement.

In addition to the MOJ’s Climate Change and Sustainability Strategy, the LAA also has a Location Strategy, which is expected to transform the way the government estate supports public service delivery by:

• improving the experience of the workplace for civil servants
• enabling increased working across departmental boundaries within the public sector
• supporting moves from London to the nations and regions of the UK
• taking a locality planning approach to optimise the government estate, and working with local authorities to embed our contribution to place-making
• responding to the changes in ways of working as a result of reduced office capacity
• improving the sustainability and condition of the estate

Our strategic objective for the year ahead is to continue to collaborate with the Government Property Agency and the MOJ Property Directorate to deliver access to cost-effective, high-quality office accommodation that meets the necessary compliance standards, supports hybrid working and improves sustainability.

Environmental awareness

MOJ has begun engaging Arm’s Length Bodies in a structured manner on greening government, through the ALB Centre of Excellence Communications Forum. In addition, the MOJ’s Climate Change and Sustainability Unit (CCSU) also offers support by way of technical subject matter experts in all areas covered by the GGCs (such as waste, water, net zero carbon) and associated strategies and policies.

Waste minimisation and recycling are well-practised within our day-to-day operations. We also promote responsible procurement and waste management practices. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) provides details of Government Buying Standards for a range of products. As part of all tendering activity where they apply, the requirements of the Government Buying Standards are mandated by us.

Climate change adaptation

LAA is working to increase its resilience to climate change in line with MOJ’s Climate Change Adaptation Strategy.^{[footnote 2]} LAA continues to work in line with the MOJ’s commitments under the Third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3).

Digitisation

The vast majority of our data, files and case evidence are already handled digitally. We are continuing to further reduce our reliance on paper by offering improved collaboration tools for staff to allow more efficient working. In addition, we are looking at long-term requirements around the need for physical letters and court documents that will soon become more detailed and reportable.

Environmental sustainability reporting

Our progress against the 2025 GGCs is outlined in the following tables. The 2023 to 2024 non-financial indicators have been restated to reflect the full financial year up to March 2024. The data below shows our present position for 2024 to 2025 against a 2017 to 2018 baseline, using calendar year data available January 2024 to December 2024.

Greenhouse gas emissions

Table 1. Financial and non-financial indicators of greenhouse gas emissions against Scopes 1-3 for each year 2021-22 to 2024-25 against the 2017-18 baseline

Greenhouse gas emissions from buildings and travel[footnote 3]		2024-25	2023-24 restated	2022-23	2021-22	2017-18 baseline
Non financial indicators (tCO2e)	Gas – Scope 1 non‑renewable energy	65	70	79	125	95
	Electricity – Scope 2 non‑renewable energy	125	173	175	168	531
	Official business travel emissions – Scope 3	51	44	15	31	281
	Total emissions	241	287	269	324	907
Non financial indicators (MWh)	Gas – Scope 1 non‑renewable energy	354	381	434	682	514
	Electricity – Scope 2 non‑renewable energy	602	835	830	791	1,382
	Total energy	956	1,216	1,264	1,473	1,896
Financial indicators (£000)	Gross expenditure on energy	401	307	238	226	210
	Expenditure on official business travel (UK only)	526	472	429	152	662
	Total	927	779	667	378	872

Electricity and gas usage decreased compared with last year. Emissions are calculated using the Defra conversion factors for the relevant period.

Travel

Table 2. Travel output information for each year 2021-22 to 2024-25 against the 2017-18 baseline

Travel		2024-25	2023-24 restated	2022-23	2021-22	2017-18 baseline
Distance travelled (km 000)	Motor vehicle	277	286	314	-	464
	Rail	253	11	315	710	3,934
	Flight	1	3	23	1	111
	Total distance	531	300	652	711	4,509
Emissions (tCO2e)	Motor vehicle	42.34	43.63	54	-	85
	Rail	8.97	0.37	11	25	184
	Flight	0.01	0.49	3	-	13
	Total emissions	51.32	44.49	68	25	282

Overall travel emissions have decreased 82% from the baseline year 2017 to 2018.

Finite resource consumption

Table 3. Water consumption and supply costs for each year 2021-22 to 2024-25 against the 2017-18 baseline

Water[footnote 4]		2024-25	2023-24 restated	2022-23	2021-22	2017-18 baseline
Non financial information (m3)	Water consumption	563	1,743	811	866	14,897
Financial information (£000)	Water supply costs	5	14	24	21	21

Water usage during 2024 to 2025 is lower than 2023 to 2024 with a reported decrease of 68% from the previous year.

Paper

Table 4. Quantity of paper purchased for each year 2021-22 to 2024-25 against the 2017-18 baseline

Paper		2024-25	2023-24 restated	2022-23	2021-22	2017-18 baseline
Non financial information (A4 reams)	Paper purchased	641	676	756	460	3,849

Our paper consumption has continued to decrease, achieving a 83% reduction from the 2017 to 2018 baseline.

Waste minimisation and management

Table 5. Waste disposal for each year 2021-22 to 2024-25 against the 2017-18 baseline

Waste		2024-25	2023-24 restated	2022-23	2021-22	2017-18 baseline
Non financial information (tonnes)	Waste sent to landfill	-	-	6	-	148
	Waste incinerated for energy recovery	5	5	8	16	-
	Waste incinerated without energy recovery	-	7	-	-	-
	Recycled/reused	19	162	233	46	840
	Waste composted / food waste	-	1	1	2	-
	Total waste	24	175	248	64	988
Financial information (£000)	Total	8	14	24	64	27

Previous reporting, including the 2023 to 2024 report, gave waste figures with units of cubic metres, this should have been reported in tonnes and has now been corrected.

We continue to divert our waste from landfill. Further progress in digital working and paper reduction has continued to support reductions in total waste.

In the future

Our sustainability strategy is to continue operating with the MOJ’s CCSU towards the GGCs. Together, we will continue to:

• reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• improve our waste management
• further reduce water consumption
• buy more sustainable and efficient products and services with the aim of achieving the best long-term minimum environmental impact

Our sustainability team and facilities management continue to find ways for us to reduce our carbon footprint through facilities upgrades.

We continue to explore opportunities offered by improved ways of working, through digital working and the better use of technology.

We will explore further estates improvements within the LAA location strategy and explore further opportunities to share space with other government departments. This will further reduce our accommodation energy needs.

We are committed to creating a sustainable, effective and efficient estate that provides value for money for the taxpayer, reduces our environmental impact and enables transformation.

Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures

LAA has reported on climate-related financial disclosures consistent with HM Treasury’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) aligned disclosure application guidance, which interprets and adapts the framework for the UK public sector. LAA does not consider climate to be a principal risk, and has therefore complied with the TCFD recommendations and recommendations disclosures around:

• Governance: The paper templates for each of the LAA’s formal, senior governance forums include a mandatory section relating to sustainability, which requests confirmation that the GGCs and sustainability have been considered, ensuring that this has fed into the development of proposals and the senior decision-making process.
• Risk Management: Horizon risk scanning carried out with the ELT during 2024 to 2025 considered risks in an internal and external context, including via PESTLE analysis (Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors), a systematic approach which considers environmental and sustainability factors as part of the risk management process.
• Metrics and Targets: Environmental and sustainability data has been disclosed in tables 1 to 5 on pages 35-37.

The LAA plans to provide recommended disclosures for Strategy in future reporting periods in line with the central government implementation timetable. The LAA organisational strategy was developed with consideration of environmental factors and risks. The organisation’s approach to modernising services is resilient to potential climate change scenarios.

Signed for and on behalf of the Legal Aid Agency

Jane Harbottle CBE

Chief Executive and Accounting Officer

Legal Aid Agency

Footnotes

1. For more information see: www.gov.uk/government/publications/climate-change-and- sustainability-strategy-moj↩

2. For more information see: www.gov.uk/government/publications/climate-change- adaptation-strategy-moj↩

3. Emissions from buildings for 2024 to 2025 reporting year includes information from the following sites only: Brighton, Jarrow, Leeds, London (102 Petty France) and Swansea. ↩

4. Water data for 2024 to 2025 reporting year includes information from the following sites only: Jarrow and London (102 Petty France). ↩