Djanogly scraps training contract grant scheme

Legal aid minister Jonathan Djanogly is scrapping the legal aid training contract grant scheme with immediate effect.

The scheme, set up in 2002 to encourage younger lawyers to enter the legal aid market, is the latest casualty in the round of cost cutting at the Ministry of Justice.

Over the past eight years, about 750 lawyers benefited from the scheme, which cost the government £3m per year. The average grant was £8,000 per solicitor.

Talking to a group of lawyers from small and medium-size legal aid firms at the MoJ this morning, Djanogly said the scheme would be dropped for future contracts, though funding due under current contracts would be honoured.

The decision is expected to save the government approximately £2.6m over the next three years.

The next round of grants was due to start later this summer, to coincide with the next legal aid contract award round.

A spokesperson for the MoJ said the decision to stop the scheme was taken earlier than anticipated to avoid the government having to commit to another three year round of payments.

"When the scheme was introduced in 2002, we needed financial inducements for more young lawyers to enter the legal aid market. Time has moved on and we now have too many lawyers chasing too little work, and greater pressure to save public money, so the financial inducements no longer make economic sense", said an MoJ spokesperson.

He continued: "The grant scheme was a laudable idea, but the long-term future of legal aid is still assured with enough young lawyers continuing to enter the profession. Many firms offer training contracts without being funded by a grant. And there are alternative routes into practice, for example through the paralegal route."

The MoJ was due to meet with representatives of the Law Society and Bar Council later this afternoon.