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The number of solicitors on the criminal duty solicitor rotas in England and Wales stood at 3,944 at the April 2026 update, up from 3,834 at October 2025, according to Legal Aid Statistics for April to June 2026, published by the Ministry of Justice on 24 September 2026. In October 2017 there were 5,240.
Key points
- At the start of June 2026, 2,012 providers and 3,316 offices held legal aid contracts.
- Criminal legal aid: 1,044 providers, 1,596 offices. Civil legal aid: 1,281 providers, 2,192 offices.
- Duty solicitors: 3,944 at the April 2026 update, against 3,834 at October 2025 and 5,240 at October 2017 (down 24.7% since then).
Duty solicitor numbers
| Update | Duty solicitors |
|---|---|
| October 2017 | 5,240 |
| October 2018 | 4,923 |
| October 2019 | 4,600 |
| April 2020 | 4,582 |
| October 2020 | 4,539 |
| April 2021 | 4,481 |
| October 2021 | 4,361 |
| April 2022 | 4,255 |
| October 2022 | 4,023 |
| April 2023 | 4,086 |
| October 2023 | 4,003 |
| April 2024 | 3,966 |
| October 2024 | 3,923 |
| April 2025 | 3,877 |
| October 2025 | 3,834 |
| April 2026 | 3,944 |
Caveat
The Legal Aid Agency says the cyber-attack on its systems in May 2025 still affects data collection, and that some series remain unavailable or need care when compared with the previous year.
Method
Provider and office counts are quoted from the release bulletin; duty solicitor numbers from table 9.8 of the accessible tables. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.