Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the light of reductions in funding to legal aid and advice, what steps they are taking to review the number of cases now being conducted by litigants in person.
Answered on
15 July 2014
We are closely monitoring the impact of the legal aid changes. The number of family cases showing self representing parties is 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 have always been a feature of the justice system.
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