Consultation on the proposed changes to the Legal Aid Act 1986

The Treasury asked for the public’s views on the proposed amendments to the Legal Aid Act 1986. The consultation took place between 10 November to 22 December 2025.

A number of key stakeholders were contacted directly and invited to take part in giving their views. These included:

• Political Members
• All advocates currently registered to provide Legal Aid in the Isle of Man
• The Isle of Man Law Society
• The Police Chief Constable
• The Attorney General
• The Solicitor General
• The Deemsters & High Bailiffs
• Senior Officers of the Department of Home Affairs including the Prison Governor
• Senior Officers of the General Registry
• The Appointments Commission
• The Legal Aid Appeals Tribunal

The Treasury also sent paper copies of the consultation to the Isle of Man Prison in order to enable inmates to take part in the consultation.

A total of 17 responses to the consultation were received by the Consultation Hub and a further 7 responses were received in written form.

The responses expressed a range of concerns around the proposed changes to the Legal Aid Act and the impact in particular that they will have on services that are not currently operated by the Treasury.

Concerns included:

• That the proposed changes for the issuing of criminal legal aid certificates, moving it to the responsibility of the Legal Aid Certifying Officer, would cause significant delays to the criminal courts processes
   
• Some views thought that the proposed Legal Aid may be excessive cost and unnecessary bureaucracy over legal aid advocates
   
• The proposals in the draft Act to enable fixed fee legal aid work raised concerns, indicating that there would be considerable objection to this from advocates that currently provide legal aid

The Department has analysed the responses in detail and the Treasury thanks all those individuals and organisations who responded to the consultation. All responses received have now been analysed and used to create a consultation summary report, which has been published on this page.

Further work with all relevant stakeholders must take place to ensure that before those or any other amendments are made, their potential impact is properly understood and that any changes made to legal aid are operationally workable and in line with policy objectives. 

The Treasury Minister, Chris Thomas MHK, has determined that the proposed amendments be put on hold for at least the duration of the current Tynwald administration period and that the progression of the changes should no longer be the responsibility of Treasury and instead should be taken forward by another Government body that is better equipped to do so.