What will changes to Social Welfare Law mean to you?
Yesterday, in the heart of the House of Lords, a panel of experts gathered to discuss the impacts of the planned cuts to legal aid, which is currently in report stage, at the House of Commons. Along with the rest of the advocacy team, I listened with a growing sense of disbelief to just what the proposed cuts will mean for people who rely on legal aid to access the justice system.
On Monday night in the House of Commons the government’s proposal to cut £350m out of the legal aid budget was debated, with a shocking lack of attention to the impact this would have on the disadvantaged and vulnerable people who rely on these services. Under the plans, the £2.2bn a year legal aid budget will be cut, and whilst the Ministry of Justice’s suggested that this would result in 500,000 fewer cases being funded, the Legal Action Group estimates a number closer to 650,000 that will be denied access to legal aid. The reasoning behind the bill is that people will be encouraged to take advantage of alternative routes to resolution – such as mediation – which will not involve the expense of court proceedings.
However, the panel argued that this was a false economy and failing to provide appropriate legal representation will incur additional costs to ‘the system’. Sue Bent from Advice Services Coventry (ASC) pointed out that the £157 sum the government pay to help someone threatened with homelessness saves the government £14,000! Clearly investment in advice and preventative work makes sound economic sense both in the short term and can help stop unforeseen costs to the government in the future such as on healthcare.
Hearing more about the wide ranging impact these planned cuts are going to have was really quite shocking. It highlights the importance of our advocacy service which is one way the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign is responding to cuts to these services. We were able to formally announce the pro bono link with Hogan Lovells last week and will work with the firm to ensure all neuromuscular patients get the legal representation they need.
Both Lord of Newton of Braintree, who chaired the talk, and Lord Philips of Sudbury were both outspoken on the topic and hope that the House of Lords can work together to limit some of the impacts that the cuts to legal aid will bring. They also called upon those present to raise public awareness about what the proposed changes will mean to people more generally and hopefully this blog post will do just that!
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I whole heartedly agree. You win. Like