Latest legal aid statistics now in Legal Services
The latest statistics, which are published at MOJ “Justice statistics > Data tables” <www.justice.govt.nz> and updated every six months, include the following data on legal aid for the decade ending June 2023:
Number of legal aid grants
|
Year |
Criminal legal aid* |
Family legal aid |
Civil legal aid |
Waitangi Tribunal |
Total |
|
2013/2014 |
47,923 |
21,419 |
1,412 |
65 |
70,819 |
|
2014/2015 |
50,145 |
18,155 |
976 |
63 |
69,339 |
|
2015/2016 |
54,621 |
18,364 |
1,032 |
129 |
74,146 |
|
2016/2017 |
56,057 |
17,897 |
1,021 |
152 |
75,127 |
|
2017/2018 |
57,488 |
17,885 |
1,227 |
206 |
76,806 |
|
2018/2019 |
58,104 |
17,485 |
1,171 |
296 |
77,056 |
|
2019/2020 |
57,116 |
18,126 |
1,163 |
161 |
76,566 |
|
2020/2021 |
56,753 |
19,420 |
1,170 |
136 |
77,479 |
|
2021/2022 |
46,866 |
17,232 |
1,075 |
165 |
65,338 |
|
2022/2023 |
54,530 (+16% on previous year) |
18,702 (+9%) |
1,352 (+26%) |
182 (+10%) |
74,766 (+14%) |
Legal aid expenditure
|
Year |
Criminal legal aid* |
Family legal aid |
Civil legal aid |
Waitangi Tribunal |
Total |
|
2013/2014 |
$47,614,216 |
$43,058,752 |
$6,356,325 |
$12,503,122 |
$109,532,415 |
|
2014/2015 |
$58,044,885 |
$41,781,972 |
$5,404,373 |
$13,879,009 |
$119,110,239 |
|
2015/2016 |
$62,076,572 |
$43,479,034 |
$6,186,983 |
$13,663,534 |
$125,406,122 |
|
2016/2017 |
$68,794,351 |
$42,400,602 |
$5,599,516 |
$15,487,388 |
$132,281,857 |
|
2017/2018 |
$81,093,364 |
$45,152,410 |
$5,748,427 |
$15,871,030 |
$147,865,231 |
|
2018/2019 |
$96,498,233 |
$46,809,111 |
$6,088,199 |
$16,409,801 |
$165,805,345 |
|
2019/2020 |
$108,143,935 |
$48,678,167 |
$6,474,832 |
$15,181,263 |
$178,478,198 |
|
2020/2021 |
$127,395,995 |
$56,660,283 |
$6,957,760 |
$20,724,947 |
$211,738,984 |
|
2021/2022 |
$119,443,795 |
$54,991,781 |
$7,496,413 |
$18,176,178 |
$200,108,167 |
|
2022/2023 |
$163,418,557 (+37% on previous year) |
$66,207,276 (+20%) |
$10,727,554 (+43%) |
$19,076,107 (+5%) |
$259,429,493 (+30%) |
* A note to the data says: “The criminal grants and expenditure on criminal legal aid exclude those grants assigned to the Public Defence Service (PDS) because they are not funded from legal aid. Other information about criminal legal aid is on the same basis.” That is, criminal legal aid grants assigned to PDS lawyers are funded from a separate Budget appropriation (PDS rather than Legal Aid).
Additional tables break down the number of legal aid grants by region, gender of applicant, ethnicity of applicant and age of applicant.
While the data tables do not provide commentary/analysis on the recent fluctuations, contributing factors are likely to include:
- The reduced effect of COVID-19 in 2022/2023 compared with its significant effect in 2021/2022 (as noted in an earlier post).
- The 12% increase in legal aid hourly rates from 1 July 2022 (discussed here) – a component of the legal aid initiatives announced in Budget 2022 (discussed here).
- The 15% increase in legal aid eligibility thresholds on 1 January 2023 (noted here) – also part of the Budget 2022 initiatives.
The data above and other legal aid statistics are noted in Legal Services at [LA3.08] on Westlaw New Zealand.
Kevin Leary is a Senior Legal Editor in the New Zealand Analytical Law team at Thomson Reuters. He has more than 20 years' experience as an editor of bound books, looseleafs, precedents and their digital equivalents.