Lawyers respond to LASPO review

Lawyers’ groups have given a mixed reaction to the long-awaited Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ) post-implementation review of the LASPO legal aid cuts.

Part 1 of LASPO (the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012) removed legal aid coverage for hundreds of thousands of people across large areas of civil and family law in April 2013.

In its review, published this week, the MoJ promises an extra £5m towards technology for accessing legal advice and £3m over two years to help litigants in person, in its 500-page review, as well as acknowledging the importance of early intervention. The overall legal aid budget is £1.6bn.

Justice Secretary David Gauke said, in a foreword to the review: ‘This review has highlighted that for too long legal support has been focused solely on funding court disputes, with less emphasis on how problems can be resolved earlier and avoid them escalating into more problematic issues that require a court visit.

‘Our ambition is to catch problems before this point.’

The review notes that fewer publicly funded cases have been brought. In particular, volumes have declined more than anticipated in social welfare law and family cases. The review also highlights that the legal system is not capable of catering for those without legal representation, and that advice deserts are leaving areas without legal aid lawyers.

Law Society president Christina Blacklaws said: ‘The proposals reflect a considerable number of the recommendations we put forward.

‘The Ministry has accepted the case for changes in relation to the legal aid means test, exceptional case funding and early legal advice, and has committed to further work as to what those changes should look like. There are also to be specific changes immediately in relation to migrant children, special guardianship orders and the telephone gateway for discrimination, debt and special educational needs. There is much to be welcomed.’

However, Blacklaws called on the government to ‘give urgent attention to amending the means test thresholds because the current levels are preventing families in poverty from accessing justice; and remuneration rates for solicitors undertaking this vital work must be reviewed for civil as well as criminal work, to address the medium-term viability of the system. As a first step, they should be uprated in line with inflation ahead of further work to make the system sustainable’.

Richard Atkins QC, chair of the Bar Council, said the review was a ‘wasted opportunity’ and described the extra £8m offered by the MoJ as ‘but a drop in the ocean given the impact LASPO has had on restricting individuals’ access to justice.

‘We fully understand that the MoJ is constrained by budgetary limits, but this review provides clear evidence that the Treasury must find a way to properly fund the justice system and reverse a decade of cuts.’