Information released by the Ministry of Justice shows that there was an increase of 10.4% in total gross payments made to legal aid providers in the year to 30 June 2018 from the previous year.

Total gross payments (which include fees for agents and expert witnesses, disbursements and travel costs) in 2017/18 were $158.318 million. This was well ahead of the $143.379 million gross payments made in the year to 30 June 2017 and the highest total payments since major changes were made to legal aid in 2011.

There was a slight increase in the number of providers who received payments, at 1205 this year, compared to 1193 in the previous year.

The average gross payment made to providers has been steadily increasing since 2013, and legal aid providers received an average gross payment of $131,384.66 in the year to 30 June 2018, up 9.3% on the average gross payment of $120,184.33 in the 2016/17 year.

Gross payments to legal aid providers, year to 30 June

The highest gross payment made to a provider in the 2017/18 year was $1,787,171.78. There were seven providers who received gross payments over $1 million and 548 providers (45%) received gross payments over $100,000.

Gross payments to providers by size of payment ($000)