Legal aid grants in New Zealand

By type, year ended June 2016–2025, number of grants

The following information applies to all values in the table. Measure: Number of Legal Aid grants, Region: Total New Zealand
Year ended June	Legal Aid type	Number of grants
2016	Criminal	54,621
2017	Criminal	56,057
2018	Criminal	57,488
2019	Criminal	58,104
2020	Criminal	57,116
2021	Criminal	56,753
2022	Criminal	46,866
2023	Criminal	54,529
2024	Criminal	59,594
2025	Criminal	63,647
2016	Family	18,364
2017	Family	17,897
2018	Family	17,885
2019	Family	17,485
2020	Family	18,126
2021	Family	19,420
2022	Family	17,232
2023	Family	18,702
2024	Family	20,002
2025	Family	22,274
2016	Civil	1,032
2017	Civil	1,021
2018	Civil	1,227
2019	Civil	1,171
2020	Civil	1,163
2021	Civil	1,170
2022	Civil	1,075
2023	Civil	1,352
2024	Civil	2,418
2025	Civil	2,423
2016	Waitangi Tribunal	129
2017	Waitangi Tribunal	152
2018	Waitangi Tribunal	206
2019	Waitangi Tribunal	296
2020	Waitangi Tribunal	161
2021	Waitangi Tribunal	136
2022	Waitangi Tribunal	165
2023	Waitangi Tribunal	182
2024	Waitangi Tribunal	208
2025	Waitangi Tribunal	290

Definitions

Legal aid: Legal aid is government funding to pay for legal help for people who cannot afford a lawyer.
Criminal grants: Legal aid granted in respect of criminal matters.
Family grants: Legal aid available for family disputes or problems that could go to court, including disputes over relationship property, child support or maintenance, and care of children, protection orders, adoption, paternity etc.
Civil grants: Legal aid available for civil disputes or problems that could go to court or a tribunal. This includes debt recovery, breaches of contract, defamation, and bankruptcy proceedings. It also includes proceedings before tribunals or specialist courts.
Waitangi Tribunal: Legal Aid Services for Proceedings before Waitangi Tribunal.