More than 40% of those applying for asylum in the UK may be being denied legal aid to help fight their cases, new analysis has shown.
The vast majority of asylum seekers are unable to afford legal advice privately. But Ministry of Justice data obtained through a Freedom of Information request and analysed by barrister and researcher Jo Wilding shows there could be an annual deficit in excess of 24,000 between the number of new asylum applications and the number of new immigration and asylum legal aid cases being opened.
There were 63,089 asylum applicants in the UK in the year ending in June 2022. No data on new legal aid cases was available for the same 12-month period, but figures for the year ending in August 2022 – an overlap of ten months with the asylum data – shows there were a total of 32,714 “matter starts” (cases opened) in England and Wales, meaning at least 24,375 asylum seekers may have been unable to access legal aid in those countries – just shy of 43%.
