Legal aid spending on immigration cases has rocketed by 40 per cent, official data shows.
Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures covering April to June this year showed £18.8million of taxpayer’s money was spent on immigration cases, up 40 per cent on the same period last year.
The number of completed legal aid immigration cases rose by 27 per cent in the quarter, compared with the same period last year, to more than 19,000.
Much of the workload is asylum-related.
The MoJ document said: ‘Workload that remains in the immigration category consists largely of asylum-related work.’
Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy said the Conservatives moved to slash legal aid for immigration cases when his party was in power, but its measures had been undermined by ‘loopholes’ in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and domestic court rulings.
Ministry of Justice figures covering April to June this year showed £18.8million of taxpayer’s money was spent on immigration cases, up 40 per cent on the same period last year
Many immigration cases hinge on Article 8 of the Convention – the right to private and family life – in a bid to avoid deportation from this country, or to win visas to travel here on family reunification grounds.
Mr Timothy said: ‘The previous Conservative Government legislated to crack down on legal aid for the vast majority of immigration cases, but court judgments and ECHR loopholes have overruled Parliament.
‘It is more evident than ever that we must leave the ECHR.
‘Only by doing so can we scrap legal aid for immigration cases and close off these vexatious Article 8 claims for good.
‘The Conservatives will shut this system down and replace it with fast, final decisions made under the authority of ministers.’
One of the main reasons for the rise is likely to be a surge in the number of asylum appeals being made in the immigration courts, some of which will be eligible for legal aid.
Figures published earlier this month showed Labour’s asylum backlog in the courts had topped 90,000 cases for the first time, up 51 per cent from a year earlier.
After the General Election in 2024, ministers moved to clear a backlog of cases that had been mounting up in the Home Office awaiting an initial decision.
But asylum seekers whose claims are rejected can then apply to the immigration tribunal in a bid to have the initial decision overturned.
It means Labour has simply moved the asylum backlog from the Home Office to the courts.
Earlier this year the Commons’ Public Accounts Committee said the Government’s asylum reforms had led to ‘repeatedly shifting backlogs rather than reducing them‘.
The asylum system as a whole cost the taxpayer more than £4billion in 2025-26, according to Home Office figures.
Most of the cost is from housing asylum seekers in hotels or so-called ‘dispersed’ accommodation such as self-catering flats and houses.
However, independent analyses put the total figure at £8billion a year, when taking into account other costs, such as supporting asylum seekers after a decision is granted on their case.
