The Civil Legal Aid (Procedure and Remuneration) (Amendment) Regulations 2025
These Regulations, enacted by the Lord Chancellor, modify existing civil legal aid frameworks by updating procedural terminology and substantially amending remuneration rates for providers.
Specifically, they rename the Housing Possession Court Duty Scheme to the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service within the Procedure Regulations and introduce significant uplifts to standard fees, escape fee thresholds, and hourly rates for work across housing, debt, and immigration/asylum categories under the Remuneration Regulations.
The amendments take effect on 22nd December 2025 and apply across England and Wales, with a saving provision protecting remuneration for work initiated under the old system before the commencement date.
Arguments For
The introduction of the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service (HLPAS) replaces the previous Housing Possession Court Duty Scheme, aiming to align procedures with existing service structures.
Fee increases for certain categories of controlled work within housing, debt, and immigration/asylum aim to maintain the viability of legal aid providers by offering higher remuneration rates, potentially increasing access to justice in these areas.
Updating remuneration tables ensures that the fees for specific immigration and asylum appeal handling (both with and without hearings) and associated advocacy are modernized to reflect current service delivery models.
Specific increases in hourly rates and fixed fees for housing and debt matters ensure that providers receive remuneration that better reflects the cost of service delivery.
Arguments Against
Changes to remuneration rates and thresholds may be seen as insufficient compensation for the complexity or volume of work undertaken by legal aid providers, potentially leading to service contraction if rates lag behind inflation or service demands.
Redefining payment structures and introducing new tables (like HLPAS) introduces administrative complexity for providers who must adapt their billing procedures to the new regulations.
The fixed nature of the fees, even with increases, may not adequately cover unforeseen costs in complex immigration or housing cases, especially those involving detailed preparation or extensive travel.
The saving provision only protects cases applied for before 22nd December 2025, meaning that any new applications shortly before that date will immediately be subject to the new, potentially uncertain, remuneration structure.
The Lord Chancellor makes these Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 2(3), 12(2) and 41(1)(a) and (b), (2)(a) and (3)(c) of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.
1.
(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Civil Legal Aid (Procedure and Remuneration) (Amendment) Regulations 2025.
(2) These Regulations come into force on 22nd December 2025.
(3) These Regulations extend to England and Wales.
The Lord Chancellor created these Regulations using powers granted under sections of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.
The instrument is officially named the Civil Legal Aid (Procedure and Remuneration) (Amendment) Regulations 2025.
These specific amendments become active on December 22, 2025, and apply only to legal matters within England and Wales.
Regulation 14 (Duty Scheme) of the Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) Regulations 2012 is amended as follows—
(a) for the heading substitute “Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service”;
(b) in sub-paragraph (a)—
(i) for “Housing Possession Court Duty Scheme,” substitute “Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service”, and
(ii) for “2013” substitute “2024”;
(c) in sub-paragraph (b), for “2013” substitute “2024”.
This part revises Regulation 14 of the 2012 Procedure Regulations concerning duty schemes.
It renames the heading and all references within that section from the “Housing Possession Court Duty Scheme” to the “Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service.” Additionally, it replaces the year '2013' with '2024' in two specific subsections, indicating an update to an associated date or instrument.
(1) Schedule 1 to the Civil Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013 is amended as follows.
(2) In Part 1 (Civil Standard Fees)—
(a) for paragraph (2) substitute—
“2. The fees in Table 1 for Housing do not apply to the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service. The fees for that service are contained in Table 6(a) in this Part.”;
(b) in paragraph 3, in Table 1, in the fourth row (Debt)—
(i) in the second column (Standard Fee), for £180 substitute £256, and
(ii) in the third column (Escape Fee Threshold), for £540 substitute £768;
(c) in paragraph 3, in Table 1, in the sixth row (Housing)—
(i) in the second column (Standard Fee), for £157 substitute £223, and
(ii) in the third column (Escape Fee Threshold), for £471 substitute £669;
(d) for Table 4(a) substitute—
Table 4(a): Immigration and Asylum Standard Fees
| Type of matter | Stage 1 (legal help) | Stage 2a (controlled legal representation) | Stage 2b (controlled legal representation) | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Asylum | £559 | £274 | £685 | | Immigration – non asylum | £317 | £274 | £549 |
(e) for Table 4(aa) substitute—
Table 4(aa): Immigration and Asylum Standard Fees – online system appeals
| Type of matter | Stage 2d (appeals without a hearing) | Stage 2e (appeals with a hearing) | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Asylum | £808 | £1,219 | | Immigration – non asylum | £759 | £1,033 |
(f) in Table 4(b) (Additional Payment – UKVI Interview), for “£266” substitute “£360”;
(g) in Table 4(ba) (Additional Payment – National Referral Mechanism), for “£150” substitute “£203”;
(h) for Table 4(c) substitute—
Table 4(c): Additional Payments for Advocacy (including Online Procedure Advocacy) Services
| Activity | Advocacy Services Standard Fee | | :--- | :--- | | Oral Case Management Review Hearing | £183 | | Telephone Case Management Review Hearing | £99 | | Substantive Hearing in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal | Asylum - £332 | | Substantive Hearing in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal | Immigration - £261 | | Additional Day Substantive Hearing | Asylum - £177 | | | Immigration - £177 |
(i) omit Table 4(ca);
(j) for Table 4(d) substitute—
Table 4(d): Immigration Removal Centres Standard Fees (for Exclusive Schedule Holders only)
| | | | :--- | :--- | | On Site Surgery – advising 5 or more clients | £497 | | On Site Surgery – advising 4 clients or fewer | £249 | | Standby Payment | £47 |
(k) omit Table 6;
(l) for Table 6(a) substitute—
Table 6(a): Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service (HLPAS)
| Activity | Standard Fee | Escape Fee Threshold | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | HLPAS Stage One: early legal advice | £223 | £669 | | HLPAS Stage Two: in-court duty scheme | £108 (London rate) | N/A | | | £102 (Non-London rate) | |
This extensive clause amends the fee structure detailed in Schedule 1 of the 2013 Remuneration Regulations.
It first specifies that standard housing fees in Table 1 do not apply to the new Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service (HLPAS), directing users instead to Table 6(a).
Substantial increases are enacted for debt (Standard Fee up from £180 to £256; Threshold up from £540 to £768) and housing (Standard Fee up from £157 to £223; Threshold up from £471 to £669).
New tables replace or update standard fees for Immigration and Asylum work, including specific tables for online procedure appeals and payments for advocacy services.
It also removes Table 6 entirely and substitutes a new Table 6(a) defining the fees for HLPAS Stage One and Stage Two stages.
(3) In Part 2 (Hourly Rates - Controlled Work)—
(a) for the heading in Table 7(a) substitute “Mental Health, Claims Against Public Authorities, Public Law, Education and Community Care”;
(b) after Table 7(a) insert—
Table 7(aa): Immigration and Asylum and Housing and Debt
| Activity | London Rate | Non-London Rate | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Preparation, Attendance and Advocacy | £69.30 per hour | £65.35 per hour | | Travel and Waiting Time | £34.65 per hour | £32.70 per hour | | Routine Letters Out and Telephone Calls | £5.35 per item | £5.20 per item |
(c) for the heading in Table 7(b), substitute “Family and Miscellaneous (employment)”;
(d) for the heading of Table 7(c), substitute “Family help (lower) and related legal help in relation to section 31 of the Children Act 1989”;
(e) omit Table 7(d);
(f) for Table 8(a) substitute—
Table 8(a): Immigration and Asylum - Escape Fee Cases
| Activity | London Rate | Non-London Rate | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Preparation and Attendance | £69.30 per hour | £65.35 per hour | | Travel and Waiting Time | £34.65 per hour | £32.70 per hour | | Routine Letters Out and Telephone Calls | £5.35 per item | £5.20 per item | | Advocacy | £72.35 per hour | £72.35 per hour |
(g) for Table 8(c) substitute—
Table 8(c): Controlled Legal Representation — Immigration and Asylum hourly rates cases
| Activity | London Rate | Non-London Rate | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Preparation and Attendance | £69.30 per hour | £65.35 per hour | | Travel and Waiting Time | £34.65 per hour | £32.70 per hour | | Routine Letters Out and Telephone Calls | £5.35 per item | £5.20 per item | | Advocacy | £69.30 per hour | £68.90 per hour |
This subsection focuses on adjusting hourly rates for 'Controlled Work' in Part 2 of the Remuneration Regulations.
It introduces a new Table 7(aa) setting specific hourly rates for Immigration, Asylum, Housing, and Debt work, with London rates being generally higher than Non-London rates for preparation and attendance.
It also updates the headings for tables covering mental health, public law, and family work.
Furthermore, it introduces revised hourly rates for Immigration and Asylum escape fee cases (Table 8(a)) and standard hourly rates cases (Table 8(c)), detailing specific remuneration for preparation, travel, correspondence, and advocacy.
(1) The amendments made by regulation 3 do not affect the payment of remuneration by the Lord Chancellor to providers of civil legal services in relation to a case where the application for civil legal services was made before 22nd December 2025.
(2) For the purposes of this regulation an application is made on the date on which it is signed.
This provision acts as a saving clause regarding the fee changes introduced in Regulation 3.
Any application for civil legal services that was signed before the commencement date of December 22, 2025, will have its remuneration calculated under the previous rules, regardless of when the services are completed.
The regulation clarifies that the date an application is considered 'made' is the date it is signed.