News from the CILEX Policy & Public Affairs team

As 2025 draws to a close, the CILEX Policy & Public Affairs team have been looking back at their record-breaking year, whether that relates to their research quantity (and quality) as well as the number of stakeholders they have engaged with. 

What Research has been completed in 2025?

The team responded to 32 consultations, which is a 33% increase in the amount achieved in 2024 and 4 times the amount in 2023. As part of this, they wrote over 89,000 words of research – which is over 3 times the length of A Christmas Carol (fun festive fact). They have also received over 650 responses to the surveys published, compared to 350 in 2024.

How has CILEX represented members in 2025?

This year the Policy & Public Affairs team attended around 100 stakeholder engagement meetings. They’ve also had the opportunity to attend some valuable representative groups such as the Home Buying and Selling Council and the Criminal Legal Aid Advisory Board.

Additionally, they made sizable progress with their public affairs goals:

• The Victims and Courts Bill has progressed to the Lords, which will allow CILEX members to become Crown Prosecutors.
• The Judicial Appointment Commission Regulation 2025 has been made, which will see a permanent CILEX Judicial Commissioner.
• CILEX Has been granted permission to appeal the Mazur judgment, to clarify the position relating to the conduct of litigation.
• CILEX’s Charter was updated, providing simpler membership grades.
• The Monitoring Officer Project began, surveying all local authorities to gauge how CILEX members qualifications are treated by local authorities.

Looking forward to 2026

We know that 2026 will be another busy year. The team are planning to continue building CILEX’s relationships with the government and advocate for both our members and the wider public interest. With duty lawyer changes, developments to property law and crown prosecutors going through Parliament, there has never been a more intense period for the team.

On top of all of this, and fundamental to all their work, the team remain committed to representing CILEX core values such as developing our EDI offering and building more opportunities for career progression for our members.

If you would like to get in touch with the Policy and Public Affairs team, you can via email at policy@cilex.org.uk