CAB faces closure over reform plans

[Patrick Torsney]

From the Bolton News

Advice bureau may close over legal aid cuts

9:27am Wednesday 1st December 2010

THOUSANDS of Bolton’s most vulnerable people will suffer under proposed changes to the legal aid system, it is feared.

Bolton’s Citizens Advice Bureau bosses believe it could be forced to close as a result of the reforms, with people no longer able to get its help.

Now Bolton South East MP Yasmin Qureshi is calling on justice ministers to explain how they will protect CAB offices in Bolton and across the country from the impact of the changes to legal aid.

On a routine visit to Bolton CAB last week, the politician was told that changes being proposed by the government to civil legal aid could see the organisation’s funding cut by 65 per cent.

As part of a Ministry of Justice green paper, which is under consultation until February, the government wants legal aid to only be routinely available if life or liberty is at stake.

Last night, Ms Qureshi, a qualified barrister, was trying to persuade her fellow Justice Select Committee members to call in justice ministers to explain the changes to the system and find out what plans they had to safeguard CABs.

She said: “If legal aid is reduced or taken away completely then it is the most vulnerable people in Bolton who will suffer.

“I am going to table questions for the Justice Secretary Ken Clarke but the first thing I will be doing is trying to get the select committee to agree that there is a need to look at this in detail.

“People will have nowhere to get advice or information from if Bolton CAB is closed and that is the major worry. Under the proposals, aid will be cut for divorce, welfare benefits, school exclusions, employment issues, immigration in cases where the person is not detained, clinical negligence and personal injury.

Last year, Bolton CAB, which employs around 40 paid-for trained advisors and 50 to 60 volunteers, dealt with 14,000 new inquiries from local people.

Barry Lions, head of the Bolton CAB, said: “It would have a devastating effect on the people who require our help. The green paper makes no reference to where these people would go for help.

“It is false economy in our eyes and cost to benefit analysis shows that good, solid legal advice stops problems escalating which saves the taxpayer more money in the long run.”

[nickd]

Despite being immensely busy, I've decided to join the Mylegal team to promote the good work we all do under the Legal Aid scheme. I've done so because I'm passionate about the work we do and proud of what we've achieved for our clients in the 10 years we've been running our Welfare benefit/Debt contract, I'm proud of my hard working team and of the many clients who we have empowered to overcome some of life's obstacles. We all know this is a time of great change and the stress/strains of our current economic climate will impact upon many. This is a time when more and more people are turning to advice agencies and solicitors.

There are proposals to remove Legal Aid for the people who need our help the most. 80 people have read the above post about the threat of closure to Bolton CAB, current spending reductions may threaten many more. Now some of you may work for a CAB or have perhaps used one, or perhaps in some other way you know of the values of Legal Aid and the importance of organisations such as the CAB. Now some of you will have views which you may want to share; Mylegal provides you with an open forum to let you freely share your views. So let's get these threads running and hear them! Mylegal has only just started but already the membership grows, make sure you get people to register and once you've registered please let us have your views on your concerns over these serious threats to funding.

[pippamackie]

I am sure that any closures of CABs as a result of the LSC policies is an unintended consequence -so let's get the policies changed....

[nickd]

Pippamackie: I've located a Hansard extract from a debate on the 15th November, when the issue of LSC fundings and its impact upon Citizens Advice Bureau/law centres was discussed:

"Chris Leslie (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op): Will the Justice Secretary try to estimate the impact of the proposals on the very poorest in society, particularly in our city of Nottingham? I know of welfare advice centres and citizens advice bureaux that will be in serious jeopardy of closing because of the way that the rules he has announced are skewed towards hitting the very poorest in society when it comes to welfare advice and housing. Can he assure us that he is not abandoning the very poorest in society to a desert in which they are left with no advice and completely without representation?

Mr Clarke: I realise the need for such services and I know that citizens advice bureaux are a particularly valuable source of advice for his constituents and mine in our area of Nottingham. I should point out, however, that not every bureau provides legal advice or gets legal aid and that bureaux have been eligible for it only since 2000, and we have moved into a situation in which some have become rather dependent on it. I can only say that I shall consider the problem. Legal aid probably never was the best way of financing such organisations and my colleagues and I will have to discuss whether some necessary measure can be introduced to ensure that wider advice is available, particularly to the most vulnerable in society. We are all agreed that the taxpayer should be involved only when people cannot reasonably be expected to pay at least a modest sum to get some advice of their own."

What do others think of these views?