07/04/2011

The Justice Select Committee – a cross party parliamentary committee – has published a report on the government’s planned cuts to legal aid which says that disabled people could be hit ‘disproportionately’ hard.

The Government's proposals for restricting eligibility for legal aid are intended to cut spending by £350 million a year. The cuts would mean an end to legal aid in a wide number of areas, including:

• Education (including appeals against exclusions and special educational needs cases): no legal aid. • Welfare benefits: no legal aid. • Housing: no legal aid other than a small number of homelessness and housing disrepair (non-damages) cases. • Debt: no legal aid, including for council tax, utilities, credit card debts, fines, unsecured personal loans, overdrafts and hire purchase debts, or any proceedings under the Insolvency Act 1986. • Employment: no legal aid in most circumstances.

The Justice Committee’s report, published on 30 March, states that the evidence it received during its inquiry into the planned reforms to the legal aid system suggests that disabled people and black and minority ethnic people could be disproportionally hit by the changes. The report says, ‘If this were to happen it would sit uneasily with the Government's commitment to protect the most vulnerable in society’.

The committee’s report says it is ‘concerned that the ability of the most vulnerable people to present their cases will be weakened because they will not have had help and advice in preparing them’. The report also notes that there has been a recent dramatic increase in the number of social security appeals, from 242,800 appeals received in 2008-09 to 339,000 appeals in 2009-10.
The committee urges the Government to ‘look at other possible ways of reducing costs, including creating a financial incentive for public bodies such as the Department for Work and Pensions to get their decisions right first time, and so avoid expensive court and tribunal cases’. See the Justice Committee’s full report at:  www.parliament.uk

See also Inclusion London’s response to the government’s consultation on its proposals to cut legal aid at: http://www.inclusionlondon.co.uk/say-no