MPs warn collapse of legal aid creates ‘unacceptably high risk’ of miscarriages
all credits: The Justice Gap
originally published: 17 July 2026
Image Credit: Freerange Stock Archives at www.FreerangeStock.com
Almost half of defendants facing imprisonable summary offences in magistrates’ courts appeared without a lawyer in the latest available data, creating an ‘unacceptably high risk’ of miscarriages of justice, MPs have warned.
A report published by the House of Commons Justice Committee warned that the declining accessibility of legal aid and increasing numbers of people representing themselves in court were creating an ‘unacceptably high risk of miscarriages of justice.’
The committee found that legal aid eligibility had failed to keep pace with the cost of living, while falling numbers of providers had left support increasingly inaccessible across England and Wales.
The financial eligibility threshold for criminal legal aid in the magistrates’ court was ‘shockingly low’, MPs said. The threshold has not been increased since 2009, despite prices rising by 64%, meaning that a person working full-time for the national living wage may earn too much to qualify. The committee described this as a ‘clear denial of justice’.
For example, the report cited the case of a mother earning £18,000 through two jobs who was found ineligible for legal aid and had to face her former husband in court in proceedings involving allegations that he had sexually abused their five-year-old son.
share this article on social media
