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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/31/labour-devastating-legal-aid-cuts-access-justice
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| Labour helped these devastating legal aid cuts along. Now it’s time to fix it | Labour helped these devastating legal aid cuts along. Now it’s time to fix it |
| (17 days later) | |
| The weak, the vulnerable and the ordinary citizen depend on the rule of law for protection from abuse by the strong and the state. The law is pointless unless those who need it can access its protections. Legal aid is key to such access. | The weak, the vulnerable and the ordinary citizen depend on the rule of law for protection from abuse by the strong and the state. The law is pointless unless those who need it can access its protections. Legal aid is key to such access. |
| ‘It’s completely wrong’: falsely accused Tory MP attacks legal aid cuts | ‘It’s completely wrong’: falsely accused Tory MP attacks legal aid cuts |
| In 2012, the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (Laspo) unleashed a massive, crippling and concerted attack on legal aid in England and Wales. The statistics gathered by the Guardian show the devastation it has caused. The number of people accessing legal aid dropped in the eight years up to 2018 by 82%. The amount of money removed by the act was almost £1bn, three times more than was projected. | In 2012, the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (Laspo) unleashed a massive, crippling and concerted attack on legal aid in England and Wales. The statistics gathered by the Guardian show the devastation it has caused. The number of people accessing legal aid dropped in the eight years up to 2018 by 82%. The amount of money removed by the act was almost £1bn, three times more than was projected. |
| This devastation of legal aid was made easier for the Tory-led coalition government by the attempts of previous Labour lord chancellors, including myself, to control a budget that was, as we saw it, rising too fast. It was a mistake to go so hard on the offensive in seeking to get that budget under control. That the intention was to stem the increase in expenditure on legal aid rather than reduce it entirely is cold comfort. It opened the door to the neutering of the right to legal support in this country. I failed properly to understand the weak level of support for basic principles of justice within the political world. We certainly never intended Laspo, but we created an atmosphere in which it was more possible. | This devastation of legal aid was made easier for the Tory-led coalition government by the attempts of previous Labour lord chancellors, including myself, to control a budget that was, as we saw it, rising too fast. It was a mistake to go so hard on the offensive in seeking to get that budget under control. That the intention was to stem the increase in expenditure on legal aid rather than reduce it entirely is cold comfort. It opened the door to the neutering of the right to legal support in this country. I failed properly to understand the weak level of support for basic principles of justice within the political world. We certainly never intended Laspo, but we created an atmosphere in which it was more possible. |
| The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (Laspo) Act of 2012 was not just a bureaucratic mouthful: it was a huge piece of austerity that many thousands of people in England and Wales have found hard to swallow. | The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (Laspo) Act of 2012 was not just a bureaucratic mouthful: it was a huge piece of austerity that many thousands of people in England and Wales have found hard to swallow. |
| The cuts in central government funding have amounted to about £950m a year in real terms. As a result, the number of people receiving legal assistance in civil (not criminal) cases has fallen by more than 80%. | The cuts in central government funding have amounted to about £950m a year in real terms. As a result, the number of people receiving legal assistance in civil (not criminal) cases has fallen by more than 80%. |
| Anyone earning as little as £23,000 a year is no longer entitled to any legal aid in lower court cases. For more serious Crown Court cases, the threshold is £37,000. | Anyone earning as little as £23,000 a year is no longer entitled to any legal aid in lower court cases. For more serious Crown Court cases, the threshold is £37,000. |
| Even if you get legal aid, you may have to pay 'contributions', which can escalate over the course of a case. For those who get no legal aid at all, private legal fees can run to tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds. | Even if you get legal aid, you may have to pay 'contributions', which can escalate over the course of a case. For those who get no legal aid at all, private legal fees can run to tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds. |
| Around 140,000 people received legal aid in 2017/18, compared to 785,000 in 2010/11. | Around 140,000 people received legal aid in 2017/18, compared to 785,000 in 2010/11. |
| The courts are now full of large numbers of people who have to defend themselves. They are known as 'litigants in person' and many find the byzantine court system and procedures disconcerting and unfamiliar at best, and impenetrable and stressful at worst. | The courts are now full of large numbers of people who have to defend themselves. They are known as 'litigants in person' and many find the byzantine court system and procedures disconcerting and unfamiliar at best, and impenetrable and stressful at worst. |
| Some may lose their case because they are inadequately represented. Some may even get longer jail terms because they have no lawyer to advise them how to plea. | Some may lose their case because they are inadequately represented. Some may even get longer jail terms because they have no lawyer to advise them how to plea. |
| In some cases, antagonists in a domestic dispute, divorce or custody battle will have to confront each other directly in court, rather than through their lawyers. | In some cases, antagonists in a domestic dispute, divorce or custody battle will have to confront each other directly in court, rather than through their lawyers. |
| There is a need to ensure the justice budget is properly spent, and delivers value for money. But today, we need to win the political argument that justice expenditure is now massively below what any assessment of our national values would regard as adequate. The tanker has to turn around, and it has to do so urgently. | There is a need to ensure the justice budget is properly spent, and delivers value for money. But today, we need to win the political argument that justice expenditure is now massively below what any assessment of our national values would regard as adequate. The tanker has to turn around, and it has to do so urgently. |
| The law has become a means by which the oppression of the weak is institutionalised. Ask the people on the wrong end of a Philip Green non-disclosure-agreement-based injunction. Or the mother who can’t get legal aid to contest the contact and residence issues for her children, who is subject to just the same bullying by their father’s lawyers as she was by him when they were together. Or the mother of a child who is about to be adopted. Or the father of the baby who died while in the custody of its mother and her new partner and who cant get representation at the inquest to find out what happened. Or the huge number of benefits claimants whose entitlement is miscalculated, and who can’t get a lawyer nor lay adviser to help them claim what they are owed. Or the tenant about to be evicted who can’t get any advice on how to deal with the mounting debts, or whether there is any basis for resisting eviction. Or the employee who has been fired, but can also access no advice on whether they have rights or representation if they bring tribunal proceedings. | The law has become a means by which the oppression of the weak is institutionalised. Ask the people on the wrong end of a Philip Green non-disclosure-agreement-based injunction. Or the mother who can’t get legal aid to contest the contact and residence issues for her children, who is subject to just the same bullying by their father’s lawyers as she was by him when they were together. Or the mother of a child who is about to be adopted. Or the father of the baby who died while in the custody of its mother and her new partner and who cant get representation at the inquest to find out what happened. Or the huge number of benefits claimants whose entitlement is miscalculated, and who can’t get a lawyer nor lay adviser to help them claim what they are owed. Or the tenant about to be evicted who can’t get any advice on how to deal with the mounting debts, or whether there is any basis for resisting eviction. Or the employee who has been fired, but can also access no advice on whether they have rights or representation if they bring tribunal proceedings. |
| The choking of legal support continues. The government has committed to increase the amount to be recovered in personal injuries cases from £1,000 to £5,000 in road traffic accident claims and to £2,000 in all other cases before the successful claimant can recover their costs from the defendant. More than 350,000 cases a year will probably no longer attract costs in the future. This will have a huge impact in particular on claims for employers’ liability for injuries at work. Many union and non-union employees alike will have to bring claims themselves rather than with solicitors. The promoter of this change is the insurance industry. It benefits substantially; the employee loses. | The choking of legal support continues. The government has committed to increase the amount to be recovered in personal injuries cases from £1,000 to £5,000 in road traffic accident claims and to £2,000 in all other cases before the successful claimant can recover their costs from the defendant. More than 350,000 cases a year will probably no longer attract costs in the future. This will have a huge impact in particular on claims for employers’ liability for injuries at work. Many union and non-union employees alike will have to bring claims themselves rather than with solicitors. The promoter of this change is the insurance industry. It benefits substantially; the employee loses. |
| The less the law intervenes to regulate conduct, the more conduct deteriorates. Why should an employer improve his systems at work to avoid injuries if the employee is in practice without redress? Why should the Department for Work and Pensions improve its decision-making capacity if there are few accessible rights of appeal? How will circumstances that lead to unlawful or avoidable deaths be remedied if the inquests don’t hear the voices of the people most aggrieved? | The less the law intervenes to regulate conduct, the more conduct deteriorates. Why should an employer improve his systems at work to avoid injuries if the employee is in practice without redress? Why should the Department for Work and Pensions improve its decision-making capacity if there are few accessible rights of appeal? How will circumstances that lead to unlawful or avoidable deaths be remedied if the inquests don’t hear the voices of the people most aggrieved? |
| The Ministry of Justice, continuously held in a straitjacket by the Treasury, is driven by money and the need to save it. Justice doesn’t have its electoral payoff like schools and hospitals do. Its defenders are lawyers, who are much less influential than teachers, nurses and doctors in any political debate. The right to proper legal aid and assistance should be as much a non-political issue as the right to education and healthcare. Never again should a government be allowed to reduce the entitlement of the citizen to legal support as has occurred as a result of Laspo. | The Ministry of Justice, continuously held in a straitjacket by the Treasury, is driven by money and the need to save it. Justice doesn’t have its electoral payoff like schools and hospitals do. Its defenders are lawyers, who are much less influential than teachers, nurses and doctors in any political debate. The right to proper legal aid and assistance should be as much a non-political issue as the right to education and healthcare. Never again should a government be allowed to reduce the entitlement of the citizen to legal support as has occurred as a result of Laspo. |
| The level of expenditure on legal aid must be urgently restored to pre-Laspo levels. The way to stop it ever happening again is to adopt the recommendation of the Bach commission report, co-authored by Sir Henry Brooke, a former member of the Court of Appeal. This recommends a legally enforceable right to justice as part of a new Right to Justice Act, so people receive reasonable legal assistance without unaffordable costs and there is effective means of enforcing this new right. | The level of expenditure on legal aid must be urgently restored to pre-Laspo levels. The way to stop it ever happening again is to adopt the recommendation of the Bach commission report, co-authored by Sir Henry Brooke, a former member of the Court of Appeal. This recommends a legally enforceable right to justice as part of a new Right to Justice Act, so people receive reasonable legal assistance without unaffordable costs and there is effective means of enforcing this new right. |
| Justice fell into the hands of the accountants in 2012. It urgently needs to be released. | Justice fell into the hands of the accountants in 2012. It urgently needs to be released. |
| • Charles Falconer is a former lord chancellor, secretary of state for constitutional affairs and secretary of state for justice | • Charles Falconer is a former lord chancellor, secretary of state for constitutional affairs and secretary of state for justice |
| ‘I couldn’t fight to get my children back’: the impact of legal aid cuts | ‘I couldn’t fight to get my children back’: the impact of legal aid cuts |
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