The Ministry of Justice has dropped the "sexist" 'dear sir' greeting it includes on all automated responses to legal aid claimants following a complaint from a member of the public.

The Legal Aid Agency (LAA), part of the Ministry of Justice, is believed to be the first government arm to change its automated messages to avoid only referencing one gender - moving from its default ‘Dear Sirs’ to: ‘To whom it may concern’.

This comes following the annoyance of one keen-eyed member of the public who was moved enough to write to the LAA pointing out that its client and cost management system still uses ‘Dear Sirs’ as “the default salutation in all correspondence”.

“Historically, women would never receive official correspondence, so it made sense to use a generic male salutation,” the unnamed woman wrote, according to the Law Gazette. However, she added: “These days women outnumber men – as the Law Society confirms.”