Domestic abuse victims most vulnerable from legal aid
The Institute of Legal Executives (ILEX) has issued a call for
its members to submit their views as it seeks evidence on the
effects of legal aid cuts on law firms working on family cases. The
Institute has circulated a survey open to all its members to
identify the true scale of the emerging problem. The move comes as
a result of ILEX’s concerns that the family court system is on the
brink of collapse due to legal aid cuts, plans for court closures
and cuts to budgets for Family Services generally.
“People experiencing domestic violence have traditionally been
viewed as a priority for legal aid. Cutbacks in funding for family
law cases can make children and families at risk of violence
especially vulnerable. Many skilled and experienced lawyers,
including Legal Executive lawyers, who have devoted their work to
providing legal aid funded family law services to clients are now
face redundancies through the closure of firms” said ILEX
President, David McGrady.
Hundreds of law firms specialising in family legal issues have
failed to obtain a family legal aid contract in a recent tendering
project. As a result, the number of family law providers has
dropped by about 46%, from 2,400 to around 1,300. The Legal
Services Commission (LSC), which oversees the legal aid system, has
admitted that the scale of the cuts was an unintended consequence
of their new application processes, but defended its decision by
stating that there should be at least five providers in each
procurement area.
“The sheer scale of the unintentional reduction could
potentially cause irreparable harm to legal aid provision to some
of the most vulnerable members of society by creating family law
advice ‘deserts’ in parts of the UK. Given that there has been no
fallback position in the event of such widespread loss of
suppliers, the knock-on effect would be a reduction in access to
justice for the public, leading to gaping holes in legal provision.
For example, in Poole and Dorset it has been reported that there is
only one firm of solicitors with a family legal aid contract to
service over 140,000 people. We feel sure that our lawyer members
will be able to highlight other areas where access to justice is
now vulnerable” Mr. McGrady continued.
The problem with accessing family law legal advice has been
compounded by unnecessary delays in care proceedings for vulnerable
children. Bernardo’s, the UK’s largest children’s charity, has
warned that last year children waited an average of more than 56
weeks before a county court decided to take them into care or a
supervision order was made.
“ILEX has always maintained that changes in the system,
including transitional process during market led reforms, are
critical and if pushed through without full consideration will
cause lasting long term harm to clients. These legal aid cuts and
the delays are not in the public interest and risk causing
irreparable harm to legal aid service provision in some regions”
Mr. McGrady concluded.
Posted 10.08.10
To take part in the survey please click
here.