Family legal aid cuts are having a major impact while falling crime has made further budget cuts unnecessary, according to the Bar Council
The latest government statistics show a drop of 15,000 per quarter in the number of people receiving legal aid for family court cases, and a drop of 40,000 per quarter for family law advice.
In April 2013, when the legal aid cuts came into force, 40,090 people received representation on legal aid for civil and family matters in the quarter before, but only 23,149 people did so in the quarter following, with the bulk of cuts hitting family law. Nicholas Lavender QC, chairman of the Bar, said the latest quarterly figures showed that families facing serious issues, such as disputes concerning children, were effectively being “shut out” of the justice system.
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