On 23rd April 2025 it was reported that the Legal Aid Agency, part of the Ministry of Justice, suffered a Cyber Attack. This meant that the Legal Aid processing systems were offline for a period.

On Monday 19th May 2025 it was announced that the data breach was significantly greater than first appreciated. Since then the Legal Aid processing systems have been offline with contingency measures in place to mitigate the disruption.

National media reported that an estimated 2.1 Million pieces of data had been compromised. This may include personal details, financial information, criminal records and case details. The full extent of what has been taken in the attack has not yet been clarified by the Ministry.

As the Data Controller, the Legal Aid Agency and Ministry of Justice are responsible for ensuring the security of the data they hold for you. We wish to make clear that our individual firms IT systems remain secure and unaffected by the attack. If you are concerned about your data having been taken, you may wish to contact the Ministry of Justice via email at data.access@justice.gov.uk

Please be assured that we are, in the vast majority of cases, still able to provide Legal Aid services. We continue to support our clients and will advise on an individual basis if there are problems with your case. You may be asked to provide additional evidence of your income or means to support an application for Legal Aid. If you wish to speak with us about representation or a case coming before the Court you should contact us to discuss the options available to you.

In Criminal Cases

Financial contributions for existing Legal Aid certificates will continue as normal. This means that, if you have been ordered by the Legal Aid Agency to pay a contribution to your Legal Aid, you should continue to make payments in line with the schedule that will already have been outlined to you. However, the Agency has asked if clients could be advised to take particular care to provide valid payment references such as Case ref, CCMS account number or invoice number when making payments.

In Civil and Family Law Cases

Financial contribution payments will be waived for any applications received on or after 27th June 2025 until further notice. No contribution payments are due during the period of the emergency legislation and will not be required to be paid later. Contributions will become payable once Statutory Instrument is reversed and only from that date moving forward if case is ongoing. The LAA will still complete assessments on new cases but not request contributions whilst the waiver is in place. These changes also apply to any cases received before 27th June 2025 where a monthly contribution applies. We are asked to inform clients in such cases to stop making payments in respect of any which are due on or after 27th June 2025. Payments will be reinstated when these changes are reversed at a later date.

Please note, the provisions in the Statutory Instrument prevent clients who have made contributions on an existing case from seeking its withdrawal and reapplying for funding in the same matter to which the initial civil legal services have been provided.

Ultimately, if you require any guidance as to your obligations to make payments, please speak with your caseworker.

We would urge all our clients to be especially mindful and to carefully check before making any transactions that might appear potentially out of the ordinary. You may wish to read the guidance published by the National Cyber Security Centre which provides advice on how to protect yourself from the impact of data breaches.