In a report published this week, ‘Coronavirus (Covid-19): The impact on the legal professions in England and Wales’, the Justice Committee supports the use of evidence other than tax returns to be used for the scheme. Currently, only those who submitted a 2018-19 tax return are eligible.
The MPs also backed the Law Society’s proposals for monthly payments of criminal legal aid to law firms and not-for-profit providers, and postponement of repayments, and it recommended further government grants to law centres and not-for-profit legal services providers. It called on the MoJ to report back and state, if it chose not to provide grants, what provision it would make for users of those law centres that cease operations.
The committee heard evidence from the Law Centres Network that ‘if lost earnings are not replaced soon, Law Centres stand to lose £3m in earned income within six months and, having used up their already scant reserves, the half of them most reliant on legal aid income would face closure’.
The committee’s chair, Sir Robert Neill said: ‘I know some people won’t have a lot of sympathy for lawyers who dress up in fancy gowns and speak a language of their own.
‘People are under the misapprehension they are all on comfortable incomes. Some are, but very many, especially given their recent big drop in workload, are not.
‘The Ministry of Justice needs to consider further grants for those working in Law Centres and others in the not-for-profit Legal Aid sector. Otherwise, the next time a victim of a crime or a defendant – both of whom may be on modest incomes - has a brush with the legal system, they may find they have no access to real justice.’
Sir Bob also called on the MoJ to ‘set out how it will make sure that this pandemic does not disproportionately affect the incomes of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, or state-educated, legal professionals’.
The Lord Chancellor, Robert Buckland QC said: ‘I am working very hard, not just with the Treasury but internally, to see what more can be done to help the flow of regular income to the professions, particularly those at the sharp end of legal aid.’
Amanda Pinto QC, Chair of the Bar Council, said: ‘The Justice Committee made many constructive recommendations. Importantly, the committee recognises Covid-19’s disproportionate impact on BAME and state-educated legal professionals. We know the budget exists. The Lord Chancellor said he is working hard to help. If he fails, justice will regress to society’s detriment.’
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