LEGAL AID FOR POLICE STATIONS AND MAGISTRATES COURTS COSTING TAXPAYER £80 MILLION LESS THAN TEN YEARS AGO

The Legal Services Commission (LSC) has published its Volume and Value figures report for Crime Higher and Crime Lower. The link to the figures can be found at the bottom of this article.

 

The Legal Services Commission (LSC) has published its Volume and Value figures report for Crime Higher and Crime Lower. The link to the figures can be found at the bottom of this article.

 

Crime spend figures in relation to Investigations (police station work) stand at £170 million, almost exactly what it was in the year 2002/3; amazing considering the 2003 figures haven’t been adjusted to take account of inflation.

 

Crime Lower

The cost of proceedings (Magistrates Court work) was £240 million in the year to 2012 which means that the total cost of Crime Lower is £410 million, some £80 million less than was spent in 2002/3. Ask your accountant how much this reduction would be if the 2002 figures are increased to take into account the effect of inflation.

 

Crime Higher

Total spending in respect of Crime Higher (Crown Court work) is at almost identical levels to last year but nevertheless some £30 million lower than the previous year.

 

To summarise, the savings seem to have been made in the most recent financial year as a result of a combination of reduced arrests and charging levels combined with the cuts imposed by the Labour administration. The cuts imposed by the coalition would not impact on the figure to March 2012 because they were only introduced in October 2011. They are likely to have a fairly dramatic impact upon the Crime Higher figures in the current financial year to March 2013, especially if the current reduced charging levels impact on Crown Court volumes in 2013.

 

View the full report here: http://www.legalservices.gov.uk/docs/cds_main/ITEM_6_VolumeAndValueReport.pdf

Matthew Claughton