Otherwise, civil legal aid will ‘vanish’, just at a time when millions of people are struggling with debt, housing costs and the cost-of-living crisis.
The number of new legal aid cases has fallen 77% in the past decade due to both cuts in areas of legal aid brought about by LASPO (the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012) and fewer lawyers working in legal aid as the practice area became financially unviable, the Law Society said. It noted LASPO led to a reduction in early advice cases, as legal aid was cut from a swathe of practice areas. However, it also highlighted a reduction in cases where legal aid remains available. For example, there has been a 77% reduction in early advice in community care cases, suggesting the low fees paid for this work may be the reason. Civil legal aid fees have not increased since 1996.
In a plea to justice secretary Alex Chalk KC this week, Law Society president Lubna Shuja called for more investment in early advice to stop problems escalating into homelessness and repossession.
Shuja said: ‘Early legal advice is vanishing and people are unable to get the advice they need when they need it most.
‘The government’s review of civil legal aid is not expected to report until 2024, with any recommendations taking even longer to implement. To sustain the civil legal aid system until this time, the justice secretary must urgently implement an interim 15% increase (£11.3m) for providers of early legal advice now.
‘Law Society analysis suggests that the number of civil legal aid providers could drop by a third by 2025, leaving many without access to a lawyer when they desperately need one.’
