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Figures from the first year of civil justice reforms show that access to civil legal aid has fallen by more than half and some categories of law have already become almost entirely inaccessible for state funding.
In April 2013, the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) came into force. The justice select committee is now taking evidence on its impact, but figures from the first year since its introduction already show dramatic changes.
Over the same period, the number of civil cases granted funding for representation and/or legal advice has dropped by 62%. Social welfare and family law have been most affected, with drops of 80% and 60% respectively.
LASPO reverses the position whereby legal aid is accessible for all civil cases other than those excluded by the Access to Justice Act 1999. Whole categories of law have been taken out of scope for legal aid; others only qualify if they meet certain criteria. The categories now out of scope include:
- Family cases where there is no proof of domestic violence, forced marriage or child abduction. There has been a 60% fall in family cases granted funding and two thirds of cases in the family court now feature somebody representing themselves.
- Immigration cases that do not involve asylum or detention
- Housing and debt matters unless they constitute an immediate risk to the home
- Welfare benefit cases; except appeals to the upper tribunal or high court
- Almost all clinical negligence cases
- Employment cases that do not involve human trafficking or a contravention of the Equality Act 2010
Mental health cases remain in scope. Prior to LASPO there was no specific category for discrimination law; most cases were included under employment law. It is rare for people to identify themselves that they have a discrimination case; they usually present to lawyers as having a problem at work.
On top of LASPO, the government is making significant changes to criminal law. The budget for criminal legal aid is being cut by £215m, but this did not start to take effect until April 2014. The proposals prompted barristers to withdraw their labour for the first time in history.
Legal aid provides funding for legal assistance to those who cannot afford to pay a lawyer to give them legal advice or represent them in court. It was first established 65 years ago in England and Wales as part of wide reforms to build a welfare state. It is not possible to breakdown the statistics to the number of individuals helped; only the number of legal aid certificates granted. This covers both legal advice and representation in court.
The full set of government statistics on legal aid from 2013/14 can be viewed here.
• The graphic with this article was amended on 10 September 2014. The labels for housing and employment were switched in an earlier version. The article was also amended to clarify the timing of legal aid budget cuts.
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