Senior judges have described the increase in litigants in person (LiPs) as “unprecedented”, in a report into the impact of the government’s civil legal aid reforms.
They also highlighted a rise in unmeritorious cases, and a reduction in take-up of mediation and alternative dispute resolution options, piling more pressure on the courts.
The Judicial Executive Board warned there had been a large rise in cases where one or more parties do not have legal representation, particularly in private family cases, in its written evidence on the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO), published last week. This has had a “considerable” adverse impact on courts’ administration and efficiency, with anecdotal evidence from judges indicating that cases are taking longer and therefore eating up savings introduced by the reforms.
Some LiPs have learning difficulties, psychiatric problems and dysfunctional lifestyles, while many have scant knowledge of legal processes.
They are often demanding of court staff, and engage in lengthy correspondence.
LASPO removed legal aid from large parts of private family, housing, personal injury, debt, education and other areas of civil law in April 2013.
The report states: “The judiciary’s experience is that the absence of pre-proceedings advice in the tribunals’ jurisdictions has resulted in an increase in unmeritorious claims and, almost certainly, some meritorious cases never being brought.”
The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas, the Master of the Rolls, Lord Dyson, the president of the Queen’s Bench, Sir Brian Leveson, and the president of the family court, Sir James Munby, are among the senior members of the Judiciary of England and Wales who sit on the Board.
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