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<p>The government continues to recognise the importance of the legal support services
and the essential role that they play in helping people resolve their legal problems.</p><p>Following
our 2019 review of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012
reforms, the Ministry of Justice published the Legal Support Action Plan, which set
out our vision for resolving legal problems earlier by ensuring that people can access
the right legal support services at the right time, and in the right way for them.
Whilst we do not intend to move to a fully grants based system for funding legal services,
there are elements of the Legal Support Action Plan that drew on the recommendations
of the Low Commission report.</p><p>COVID-19 interrupted significant elements of some
of this work, as we reprioritised our focus on considering the impact of the pandemic
on the legal support sector who support individuals in need of help.</p><p>As a result
of this, the Ministry of Justice has secured emergency funding for the not-for-profit
legal advice sector, including £5.4 million for providers of special legal advice.
£3 million of this funding will go to Law Centres and this will be distributed through
the Law Centres Network. The remainder of the funding, £2.4 million, will be contributed
to the Community Justice Fund, administrated by the Access to Justice Foundation (ATJF),
in order to provide funding for other non-specialist advice and support providers.</p><p>This
funding will be additional to the £370 million of funding administrated by the National
Lottery Communities Fund which qualifying third sector organisations, including those
in the advice sector, will be able to bid for directly.</p><p>We have also continued
existing work with the specialist advice sector and launched a new £3.1 million grant
in partnership with the ATJF to enhance legal support for litigants in person over
the next two years. This new grant is in addition to nearly £8m invested by the Ministry
of Justice in support of litigants in person in the civil and family courts since
2015 through the Litigants in Person Support Strategy.</p><p> </p>
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