19/01/2011

Inclusion London is supporting Justice for All, which is an alliance of voluntary groups and advice agencies campaigning against government proposals to cut Legal Aid. Disabled people will be hit very severely by the government’s proposals.

The government plans to cut the Legal Aid budget by £250 million. In the last decade the budget for civil Legal Aid has already been cut by 24 per cent in real terms. The proposals would severely restrict what advice legal aid funds and who can get legal aid. They include:

• No legal aid funding would be available for education advice, such as appeals against exclusions and admissions, special educational needs appeals and disability discrimination appeals.

• All legal aid funding for welfare benefits advice will be cut, including appealing decisions on sickness benefits for example.

• Legal aid funding will no longer be available for many employment cases.

• Legal aid for housing and homelessness will be severely restricted.

• People receiving benefits will no longer be automatically entitled to legal aid and people with ‘assets’ as low as £1,000 will be required to pay for the first time.
The government is consulting on these proposals. The consultation closes on 14 February 2011. You can find the consultation documents at: www.justice.gov.uk

Actions you can take to oppose the cuts in Legal Aid:

• Disabled People’s Organisations can sign up to Justice for All. You can do this and get more information about Justice for All at: http://www.justice-for-all.org.uk/

• Contact your Member of Parliament (MP) and tell them you oppose the cuts in Legal Aid. You can download a model letter to use to send to your MP below. Please amend it according to your own circumstances.

• Ask your MP to sign Early Day Motion 1194. You can find a copy at the following link www.edmi.parliament.uk

If you don’t know who your MP is, you can find out at: www.writetothem.org.uk
• Get involved in future actions against the cuts.

• If you can, respond to the government’s consultation – and let Inclusion London know what you think of the proposals.