It is a time of real threat to civil legal aid.
Following the defeat of the Legal Services Commission in a High Court action brought by The Law Society, the contracting round for family work has been declared unlawful and the new contracts set aside. It is now apparent that all current providers will be able to continue working under the old contracts, with no prospects for growth to meet chaning needs in any geographical area. The number of cases that we are allowed to start under the Legal Help scheme will remain limited at its earlier figure, which proved to be insufficient to meet demand last year, and it is clear that we will once again need to turn prospective new clients away once we have reached our allowed number - or, as before, to carry out work without payment.
In a Green Paper published earlier this month, the Government propose more dramatic changes still. The major changes proposed are:
- to withdraw funding almost entirely from all divorce, children and property disputes arising on relationship breakdown (both married and unmarried). A very small number of cases will remain - only those in which there has actually been a domestic violence injunction within the previous 12 months
- to introduce a compulsory telephone advice line which will act as first port of call for all family matters - you will no longer be able to go and consult a solicitor for initial advice
- to reduce the amount paid to lawyers for this work by 10% - bearing in mind that there have been NO increases in hourly rates since 2004 and that a 10% reduction would actually take the figure back to rates paid in 1996. It is doubtful that many firms will be able to surivive on such a basis
We estimate that these changes would mean that we would have to turn away over 800 family clients in any 12-month period - and that they would have no one esle to turn to for advice and representation. The vast majority would have to attend court without either advice or representation - or would simply give up on their rights.
We will be strongly supporting the campaigns against these changes launched by The Law Society and Resolution. Please follow these links for more information.
