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22 June 2011
This consultation, published 17 November 2010, sought views on proposals for reform of legal aid in England and Wales. The Government has now published its response at http://tinyurl.com/3fn3yaa.
The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill 2011 was published on 21 June 2011.
This category covers Legal Helpand Controlled Legal Representation relating to asylum issues, particularly applications and appeals.
This includes:
Proposal: To retain the current scope of Legal Help and Controlled Legal Representation with the exception of advice on applications for asylum support under section 4 and section 95 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.
This category covers advice in relation to cases involving litigants who are unable to look after themselves because of age, illness or disability.
This includes:
Proposal: To retain the current scope of advice and representation.
This includes:
Proposal: To remove all Legal Help and Representation on education matters.
This category covers Legal Help in relation to employment law and Legal Representation for appeals to the Employment Appeal Tribunal. This includes advice in relation to:
It includes Legal Help and Representation for appeals to the Employment Appeal Tribunal. Legal Help and Representation is also available for the small number of employment matters, for example, breach of contract, which are heard before the court rather than the Tribunal.
Proposal: To remove all Legal Help and Representation on employment matters.
This category covers advice (and some representation in higher courts) in relation to the provision of welfare benefits.
This includes legal advice on appeals to the First-tier (Social Security) Tribunal in relation to the award of:
Legal aid is not currently available for onward appeals to the Upper Tribunal.
Proposal: To remove all Legal Help and Representation for welfare benefits matters.
The closing date for responses was 14 February 2011.
Dear Annette,
Disability Alliance (DA) is very concerned that the consultation on reforming Legal Aid in England and Wales includes the following text:
4.218 We note that help and advice are available from a number of other sources, including Job Centre Plus and the Benefits Enquiry Line. In some cases, voluntary sector organisations may provide some help and advice, for example, Age UK on Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance and other benefits. The Child Poverty Action Group and Disability Alliance may assist in some cases. Pro bono groups such as the Free Representation Unit may also be able to assist in representation at tribunals. Some matters may be suitable for resolution by the Parliamentary Ombudsman. The presence of these alternatives is not determinative, but makes the provision of legal aid in these cases less likely to be justified.
As a simple courtesy it would have been preferable if you had discussed inclusion of this comment in advance of publication. It is factually incorrect and extremely misleading. The implication that charities like Disability Alliance are available to help people in the advent of Legal Aid cuts misrepresents the reality that we do not provide such support. We are very concerned that this statement has been included and are keen to see it withdrawn as soon as possible.
I am uncertain how you can rectify the damage this suggestion may cause but would welcome an urgent response. We are particularly concerned that Ministers are made immediately aware that potential changes to Legal Aid and reductions in support simply cannot be met by small charities like Disability Alliance – despite the statement included in the consultation.
As a minimum we would welcome an addendum to the consultation document and a correction made publicly available online. But I hope to hear from you soon on how you will go about correcting this deeply worrying statement that demonstrates an unacceptable lack of understanding about the availability of current support.
Neil Coyle
Director of Policy
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