Post by jman on Dec 6, 2011 17:38:58 GMT 1
Guardian article on legal aid cuts and migrant communities
"Legal advice for migrants and refugees is already patchyLocal authority cuts have hit some areas of London hard, and further cuts would have disastrous consequences
Juan Camilo for the Migrants' Rights Network, part of the Guardian Legal Network guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 6 December 2011 12.17 GMT Article history
Last week the Ministry of Justice announced that its plans to reform legal aid would be delayed by six months. This is welcome, and hopefully in the interim the government will look at alternative ways of making savings in its budget without compromising access to justice for those most in need of it.
We have warned that some of the proposals would have disastrous consequences for migrant communities and for the voluntary and community sector organisations supporting them. As it is at the moment, managing immigration advice contracts in a financially sustainable way and funded by the legal aid scheme is extremely difficult. Many private sector providers have withdrawn from this area of advice, while the two largest voluntary sector providers went into administration within a year of each other, leaving tens of thousands of cases in limbo and a shortage of provision in many areas...................."
Rest at link below :
www.guardian.co.uk/law/2011/dec/06/legal-advice-migrants-cut?newsfeed=true
"Legal advice for migrants and refugees is already patchyLocal authority cuts have hit some areas of London hard, and further cuts would have disastrous consequences
Juan Camilo for the Migrants' Rights Network, part of the Guardian Legal Network guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 6 December 2011 12.17 GMT Article history
Last week the Ministry of Justice announced that its plans to reform legal aid would be delayed by six months. This is welcome, and hopefully in the interim the government will look at alternative ways of making savings in its budget without compromising access to justice for those most in need of it.
We have warned that some of the proposals would have disastrous consequences for migrant communities and for the voluntary and community sector organisations supporting them. As it is at the moment, managing immigration advice contracts in a financially sustainable way and funded by the legal aid scheme is extremely difficult. Many private sector providers have withdrawn from this area of advice, while the two largest voluntary sector providers went into administration within a year of each other, leaving tens of thousands of cases in limbo and a shortage of provision in many areas...................."
Rest at link below :
www.guardian.co.uk/law/2011/dec/06/legal-advice-migrants-cut?newsfeed=true
