Hunt promised departmental spending would continue to grow but at a slower rate, with departments required to make efficiencies during a ‘challenging period’.
However, Law Society vice president Nick Emmerson said: ‘With inflation so high, the Ministry of Justice budget has effectively been cut.
‘There aren’t any more savings to be made in a justice system which is already breaking down after decades of underinvestment. The cost-of-living crisis and public spending cuts mean more and more people will need legal help with life-changing issues such as homelessness and debt. But who is going to give that vital advice if there aren’t enough solicitors to meet the current demand?
‘The government will be forced to pick up the pieces, at greater cost, further down the line.’
Mark Fenhalls KC, chair of the Bar, said: ‘While the Chancellor rightly recognises health and education as vital public services to be adequately funded, it is a mistake not to see justice in the same light.
‘The cost-of-living crisis means those most in need are now even more likely to require access to justice for help with housing, employment, debt and other essential legal issues. The justice sector was one of the hardest hit by austerity cuts a decade ago and was only just beginning to rebuild.
‘This real terms cut to justice funding could put us back at square one and that would be devastating for those most in need.’
Last week, the Bar Council published its report, 'Access denied: the state of the justice system in England and Wales in 2022', which painted a bleak picture of barristers leaving legal aid work due to low fees and workload pressures, crumbling, infested court buildings, and extra pressure on judges due to the rise in unrepresented litigants.
Highlights of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement include a freeze on inheritance tax, income tax and national insurance allowances and thresholds until 2028, a capital gains tax allowance cut to £6,000, and a reduction in the top income tax threshold from £150,000 to £125,000. Benefits and pensions will rise in line with inflation, while the minimum wage will rise nearly 10% to £10.42 per hour. The energy profits levy (windfall tax) will be increased to 35% and extended by two years, raising £14bn which will be used to cut business rates for about 700,000 businesses.
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