Post by Patrick Torsney on Nov 27, 2010 15:21:14 GMT 1
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The current proposals to reform legal aid
A consultation on reforming legal aid (published 15th Nov 2010) proposes to reduce significantly the types of work that organisations are able to offer and, for those services left, reduce the fees payable in respect of them. This is in order to make savings of around £350m. The bulk of the cuts, £279m, will fall on civil legal aid
If the proposed cuts are implemented, just under 550,000 less people will receive help with civil legal problems than at present. The civil legal aid system helped just over 1 million people last year, so this cut effectively represents a 50 per cent cut in civil legal aid services to the public. Such deep cuts have not been proposed for any other public services
Here are a few of the things that you will no longer get any professional face-to-face legally aided help with:
Here are the actual areas of law that will be cut entirely, unless otherwise specified
• GONE: Consumer and contract Law
• GONE: Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority claims
• GONE: Debt – unless the client is actually being evicted
• GONE: Education Law
• GONE: Employment Law
• GONE: Family Law – Divorce, financial provision and children cases on ending of a relationship
• GONE: Housing (homelessness and serious disrepair threatening health would remain in scope)
• GONE: Immigration – where the client is not detained
• G0NE: Welfare Benefits, the whole of it, including any and all help with disability benefits
The bulk of the cuts (in non-family civil legal help) will fall on the voluntary sector (also known as the 'not for profit' (or NFP) sector)
Out of a total cut of £64m in legal help work, over £50m will be cut from local Not-for-Profit providers, such as Citizens Advice Bureaux and Law Centres who are currently funded to provide legal aid work
These organisations are already experiencing deep cuts from other branches of government. For example, £46m is likely to be cut from the Financial Inclusion Fund (provides funding for debt and money advice) next March and individual local councils, which fund 50-70 per cent of the costs of running these organisations in total, are also cutting back
This has led to a lot of criticism from people who provide legal aid work, and also from sections of the media and others who believe that the current proposals are simply targeting the most disadvantaged in our society and consciously removing their ability to pursue any legal rights they may have in the future
It is important to point out though, we are not just talking about targeting those who are currently disadvantaged; people who are already living in poverty. The proposals will affect anyone who happens to need assistance in the future. For example, people who are currently managing just fine but then after losing their job or after a bereavement are unable to pay their household bills and/or are refused benefits to which they are entitled
The proposals have come from the Conservative/Liberal Democrat Coalition Government, and are contained in a consultation paper, which you can read here. Be warned, the proposals run to hundreds of pages!
Any responses to the consultation have to be in by 12noon on February 14th 2011. You can, and should, have your say about this important and serious attack on access to justice for many people
Many times in the past, when Legal Aid has been under attack, public attitudes have been swayed by stories in the media blaming the so-called problems with legal aid on “fat-cat lawyers", and such like. Ironically, the vast majority of legal aid professionals work for considerably less money than a lawyer who, for example, works in the banking or corporate business sector
Legal aid lawyers, including those specialist legal advisors in places like Citizens Advice Bureau and Law Centres, invariably do legal aid work because it's a job that puts food on the table and, because they genuinely believe people should have the right to access specialist advice and assistance when they have a legal problem. Quite frankly, civil legal aid work pays very little, with even the previous Labour government reducing and restructuring how it would pay for work
With any luck, the vast majority of us will only need to use legal services very rarely, and many people’s contact with legal aid – and with any of the various parts of the Justice system – will be rare and brief
Even so, it is the mark of a civilised society that we provide assistance to those who are unable to afford it and allow them access to justice. If not, then the legal problems people experience will only spiral out of control and the impact of this will be felt even more profoundly throughout society and in the hearts of our communities than it is at present
We spend more on legal aid than other countries
This statement keeps popping up, particularly when MPs and Ministers are asked to justify why they are proposing to cut legal aid. It usually comes along with "legal aid spending is out of control". If we spend more on legal aid then that is because on the one hand we need to and, on the other, because we believe people should have a right to justice. The irony of the whole situation is that legal aid gets the blame and the cuts when in reality, the difficulties most people suffer tend to be caused by navigating the bureaucracies created by the State, things like the DWP, the banking system and even the law itself
If you have a story to tell, you need to register first, then tell it here
If you need legal advice right now, click here
If you need legal advice right now, click here
The current proposals to reform legal aid
A consultation on reforming legal aid (published 15th Nov 2010) proposes to reduce significantly the types of work that organisations are able to offer and, for those services left, reduce the fees payable in respect of them. This is in order to make savings of around £350m. The bulk of the cuts, £279m, will fall on civil legal aid
If the proposed cuts are implemented, just under 550,000 less people will receive help with civil legal problems than at present. The civil legal aid system helped just over 1 million people last year, so this cut effectively represents a 50 per cent cut in civil legal aid services to the public. Such deep cuts have not been proposed for any other public services
Here are a few of the things that you will no longer get any professional face-to-face legally aided help with:
- negotiation with bailiffs collecting council tax or help sorting out an attachment of earnings for this and other debts
- any advice, assistance and court representation in relation to debts such as council tax, utilities, credit card debts, fines, unsecured personal loans, overdrafts and hire purchase debts
- any assistance challenging a decision of the DWP to remove your benefits - in fact there will no longer be any funding at all for anything to do with welfare benefits, including all disability benefits
- help taking an employer to tribunal for unfair dismissal or illegal deduction from your wages
- anything to do with bankruptcy, including Individual Voluntary Arrangements and Debt Relief Orders
- negotiating with private and local authority landlords and with mortgage lenders if you have difficulty paying your mortgage or any other secured loan
- challenging a school or education authority for removing your child from school or not allowing them access to education in the first place. Again, anything to do with education will no longer be funded
- anything to do with clinical negligence, which includes challenges in respect of misdiagnosis, lack of proper care whilst in hospital and even a death caused by the negligence of a GP
Here are the actual areas of law that will be cut entirely, unless otherwise specified
• GONE: Consumer and contract Law
• GONE: Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority claims
• GONE: Debt – unless the client is actually being evicted
• GONE: Education Law
• GONE: Employment Law
• GONE: Family Law – Divorce, financial provision and children cases on ending of a relationship
• GONE: Housing (homelessness and serious disrepair threatening health would remain in scope)
• GONE: Immigration – where the client is not detained
• G0NE: Welfare Benefits, the whole of it, including any and all help with disability benefits
The bulk of the cuts (in non-family civil legal help) will fall on the voluntary sector (also known as the 'not for profit' (or NFP) sector)
Out of a total cut of £64m in legal help work, over £50m will be cut from local Not-for-Profit providers, such as Citizens Advice Bureaux and Law Centres who are currently funded to provide legal aid work
These organisations are already experiencing deep cuts from other branches of government. For example, £46m is likely to be cut from the Financial Inclusion Fund (provides funding for debt and money advice) next March and individual local councils, which fund 50-70 per cent of the costs of running these organisations in total, are also cutting back
This has led to a lot of criticism from people who provide legal aid work, and also from sections of the media and others who believe that the current proposals are simply targeting the most disadvantaged in our society and consciously removing their ability to pursue any legal rights they may have in the future
It is important to point out though, we are not just talking about targeting those who are currently disadvantaged; people who are already living in poverty. The proposals will affect anyone who happens to need assistance in the future. For example, people who are currently managing just fine but then after losing their job or after a bereavement are unable to pay their household bills and/or are refused benefits to which they are entitled
The proposals have come from the Conservative/Liberal Democrat Coalition Government, and are contained in a consultation paper, which you can read here. Be warned, the proposals run to hundreds of pages!
Any responses to the consultation have to be in by 12noon on February 14th 2011. You can, and should, have your say about this important and serious attack on access to justice for many people
Many times in the past, when Legal Aid has been under attack, public attitudes have been swayed by stories in the media blaming the so-called problems with legal aid on “fat-cat lawyers", and such like. Ironically, the vast majority of legal aid professionals work for considerably less money than a lawyer who, for example, works in the banking or corporate business sector
Legal aid lawyers, including those specialist legal advisors in places like Citizens Advice Bureau and Law Centres, invariably do legal aid work because it's a job that puts food on the table and, because they genuinely believe people should have the right to access specialist advice and assistance when they have a legal problem. Quite frankly, civil legal aid work pays very little, with even the previous Labour government reducing and restructuring how it would pay for work
With any luck, the vast majority of us will only need to use legal services very rarely, and many people’s contact with legal aid – and with any of the various parts of the Justice system – will be rare and brief
Even so, it is the mark of a civilised society that we provide assistance to those who are unable to afford it and allow them access to justice. If not, then the legal problems people experience will only spiral out of control and the impact of this will be felt even more profoundly throughout society and in the hearts of our communities than it is at present
We spend more on legal aid than other countries
This statement keeps popping up, particularly when MPs and Ministers are asked to justify why they are proposing to cut legal aid. It usually comes along with "legal aid spending is out of control". If we spend more on legal aid then that is because on the one hand we need to and, on the other, because we believe people should have a right to justice. The irony of the whole situation is that legal aid gets the blame and the cuts when in reality, the difficulties most people suffer tend to be caused by navigating the bureaucracies created by the State, things like the DWP, the banking system and even the law itself
If you have a story to tell, you need to register first, then tell it here
If you need legal advice right now, click here