Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the changes in the eligibility of legal aid on the number of litigants in person and the consequential impact on the administration of justice.
Answered on
24 June 2014
We are closely monitoring the impact of the legal aid changes. The number of family cases showing self representing parties are published in Courts Statistics Quarterly (www.gov.uk/government/collections/court-statistics-quarterly). We are working towards publishing data on self representation in civil cases more widely and will include this in future publications.
Litigants in person are not a new phenomenon in our courts. Judges are used to helping persons with no legal representation, including explaining procedures and what is expected of them. We have taken steps to help people who either want or have to represent themselves in court, including publishing a revised guide for separating parents and increased training for judges. The link to the guide is:
http://hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/HMCTS/GetLeaflet.do?court_leaflets_id=2756