Minister Weerwind: “With this one-time compensation, the earnings of legal aid in 2023 will align with the costs they incur in their important work. Social lawyers and mediators who work on assignment are the access to justice for the most vulnerable in our society. High inflation has affected the entire society, and thus also the legal aid providers. I have clearly heard the call in the Sneller motion. I want to support this profession where possible.”
Automatically Paid Out
Legal aid providers do not need to submit an application themselves. The Legal Aid Board will automatically pay the compensation in December. The amount to be received will be determined based on the number of assignments issued, duty reports, and granted extra hours in the period from October 1, 2022, to October 1, 2023. The total amount for the compensation is € 26 million.
Compensations
The compensations for legal aid could not directly increase with the cost increases due to high inflation in recent years. The increase for the compensation is based on figures from 2 years earlier. Therefore, the indexing for 2023 was 0.67%. From January 1, 2024, the compensation will increase by 5.29%.
The one-time compensation from Minister Weerwind will consist of the difference between these indexations. This means that this year an extra compensation of 4.62% will be paid out in the form of a subsidy. This is the percentage by which the compensations will increase on January 1, 2024, minus the percentage by which the compensations increased on January 1, 2023.
Independent Commission
In addition to this one-time compensation, Minister Weerwind is working on a better alignment of the compensations for legal aid with the practice of legal aid providers. Therefore, an independent commission will be established this year to investigate how much time was spent on average on certain types of cases in 2022 and 2023. The goal is to examine whether the compensations are still appropriate for the amount of time spent on a case.