Post by jman on Oct 24, 2011 18:56:19 GMT 1
Research from London School of Economics on effect of legal aid cuts-extract and link to full article and the full study below :
"Legal aid reforms may leave welfare, employment and health disputes unresolved and actually increase the demand for court and tribunal hearings
Posted on October 24, 2011 by Blog Admin
The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill currently before parliament is intended, in part, to reduce demand for ‘costly litigation’ in key areas of civil law. However, recent research suggests that aspects of the Bill may actually work against this aim. Laura Bradley warns the Ministry of Justice to seriously consider the risk that some of the most controversial reforms may in fact increase demand for court and tribunal hearings, and reduce the chance that people’s everyday civil legal disputes end with agreement being reached.
Legal aid exists to ensure that those least able to afford legal services (advice and representation before a court or tribunal) have access to justice through the UK’s legal systems. Currently administered by the Legal Services Commission, the civil legal aid scheme is available for people who meet the relevant financial eligibility criteria (i.e. they are relatively poor) and whose cases are deemed to have sufficient merit in areas of law that include employment, debt, housing, family law, education and welfare benefits.
Under the legal aid scheme, public funds are used to pay specialist provider organisations, such as law firms and Citizens Advice Bureaux, who employ professional advisers (including solicitors and barristers) to advise clients and take forward their case if appropriate. The aim is to provide low-income people the same ‘access to justice’ that wealthier people enjoy.
In 2009 a Legal Services Commission press release stated that “At 60 (years old), legal aid shows no signs of retiring. As the country continues to deal with the economic recession, the scheme is more relevant than ever.” But in 2011, at the distinguished age of 62, and in a financially uncertain world, civil legal aid in England and Wales, while not taking early retirement, may be relieved of some of its key responsibilities.
The Legal Aid Bill, which has just completed the Committee stage in the House of Commons, draws together a number of proposed reforms to civil legal aid, including measures that would significantly curtail its scope. If enacted, the Bill will see much private family law and many areas of ‘social welfare law’ removed from the legal aid scheme completely. Other casualties would include employment law, debt and housing law (except when there is an immediate risk of homelessness), and welfare benefits law..
Reducing legal aid spending is unashamedly the key driver behind the reforms, but there are others, among them a desire to discourage ‘costly’ litigation and to encourage mediation and other ‘alternative’ methods of dispute resolution (i.e. alternatives to the courts). However, our quantitative research suggests that some of these alternative policies are also at risk of being undermined by a blanket removal of legal aid funding.............."
Rest at link below :
blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/2011/10/24/legal-aid-reforms/
LSE study link to paper below
haec-clients-public.s3.amazonaws.com/ssc/pdf/2011/04/15/Cutting_Legal_Aid_-_Advice_sources_and_outcomes_in_civil_justice.pdf
"Legal aid reforms may leave welfare, employment and health disputes unresolved and actually increase the demand for court and tribunal hearings
Posted on October 24, 2011 by Blog Admin
The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill currently before parliament is intended, in part, to reduce demand for ‘costly litigation’ in key areas of civil law. However, recent research suggests that aspects of the Bill may actually work against this aim. Laura Bradley warns the Ministry of Justice to seriously consider the risk that some of the most controversial reforms may in fact increase demand for court and tribunal hearings, and reduce the chance that people’s everyday civil legal disputes end with agreement being reached.
Legal aid exists to ensure that those least able to afford legal services (advice and representation before a court or tribunal) have access to justice through the UK’s legal systems. Currently administered by the Legal Services Commission, the civil legal aid scheme is available for people who meet the relevant financial eligibility criteria (i.e. they are relatively poor) and whose cases are deemed to have sufficient merit in areas of law that include employment, debt, housing, family law, education and welfare benefits.
Under the legal aid scheme, public funds are used to pay specialist provider organisations, such as law firms and Citizens Advice Bureaux, who employ professional advisers (including solicitors and barristers) to advise clients and take forward their case if appropriate. The aim is to provide low-income people the same ‘access to justice’ that wealthier people enjoy.
In 2009 a Legal Services Commission press release stated that “At 60 (years old), legal aid shows no signs of retiring. As the country continues to deal with the economic recession, the scheme is more relevant than ever.” But in 2011, at the distinguished age of 62, and in a financially uncertain world, civil legal aid in England and Wales, while not taking early retirement, may be relieved of some of its key responsibilities.
The Legal Aid Bill, which has just completed the Committee stage in the House of Commons, draws together a number of proposed reforms to civil legal aid, including measures that would significantly curtail its scope. If enacted, the Bill will see much private family law and many areas of ‘social welfare law’ removed from the legal aid scheme completely. Other casualties would include employment law, debt and housing law (except when there is an immediate risk of homelessness), and welfare benefits law..
Reducing legal aid spending is unashamedly the key driver behind the reforms, but there are others, among them a desire to discourage ‘costly’ litigation and to encourage mediation and other ‘alternative’ methods of dispute resolution (i.e. alternatives to the courts). However, our quantitative research suggests that some of these alternative policies are also at risk of being undermined by a blanket removal of legal aid funding.............."
Rest at link below :
blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/2011/10/24/legal-aid-reforms/
LSE study link to paper below
haec-clients-public.s3.amazonaws.com/ssc/pdf/2011/04/15/Cutting_Legal_Aid_-_Advice_sources_and_outcomes_in_civil_justice.pdf