Legal aid lawyers have launched a Manifesto for Legal Aid, calling on the government to “immediately review” the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (Laspo).
The document, launched this week, urges a broad raft of changes that could be implemented “swiftly” and without “significant additional expenditure”. They include: considering where children and other vulnerable groups are disadvantaged by Laspo, and amending appropriately; reversing changes to judicial review; developing a new process for exceptional funding; and abolishing the mandatory telephone gateway as the only route to accessing certain civil legal aid services.
The Legal Aid Practitioners Group is also calling for a halt on moves to reintroduce the “residence test”, and wants a new discretion to grant legal aid to ineligible people where there would be an overall saving to the taxpayer. The Manifesto launch follows a devastating Justice Select Committee report last week into the impact of the Laspo reforms, which concluded that the Ministry of Justice has failed to demonstrate value for money for taxpayers.
It found that the Laspo reforms created knock-on costs for other parts of government, failed to target legal aid at those who need it most and did not discourage unnecessary litigation. The report found the number of people receiving advice often fell far short of government predictions, for example, there was an 85% shortfall in the number of debt advice cases. It also noted “surprising” cases where exceptional funding was not granted, for example, “an illiterate woman with learning, hearing and speech difficulties” facing a child contact application.
Only 16 grants had been made by July 2014. The report concludes the scheme “is not acting as a safety net” and called for more highly trained staff to act as gatekeepers.
It further calls on the government to uphold the rule of law and to heed the warnings of key stakeholders in the justice system (including the judiciary) as to the knock-on effect of the denial of justice on society generally and the reputation of the justice system.
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