We’ve reached a grim milestone.
Ten years ago today, the government took an axe to legal aid when the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) came into force on 1 April 2013.
Overnight, large areas were cut from legal aid. From one day to the next, people found themselves no longer eligible for the expert advice they needed for serious legal issues from employment and debt to welfare benefits and family problems. And our members across the country, law centres and firms were forced to shut down as their small businesses were no longer viable.
Since LASPO came into effect the Law Society has been closely monitoring the impact of the cuts – both for people who need legal aid and for our members.
In 2009/2010, the number of legal advice cases started by advice agencies and lawyers to help people get the early advice they need was almost a million. In 2021/2022, this number had plummeted to just 130,000.
Over the same period the number of people having to go to the family court without representation trebled.
Our new interactive maps show vanishing availability of legal aid across housing, welfare, education, community care and immigration, following stringent and successive government cuts to legal aid, alongside stagnant rates of pay for solicitors’ firms, law centres and advice agencies providing these services.
Legal aid can be the difference between a family staying in a safe home or being made homeless, protection from domestic abuse or trapped in an abusive relationship. It can be what ensures that a child with disabilities gets the education and support they need.
For rights to be real, everyone who qualifies for state-funded legal advice must be able to get advice when they need to uphold their rights.
We’re pleased the government launched its review of civil legal aid sustainability, but this won’t report until 2024. We are unlikely to see any significant changes until at least 2025. This is too long to wait.
We call on the government to invest in these services now, to ensure support is there for those who need it in these turbulent times.
Looking to the future
We know where we’ve been and where we are, but what’s the future of access to justice and what can we, as a profession, do to help ensure people get the legal advice they need to resolve legal issues, regardless of wealth?
Earlier this month, the Law Society launched our 21st Century Justice project. This seeks to ensure we are being proactive in meeting the current and future challenges for access to justice.
The project will initially focus on the civil justice system and will look at five key areas:
- power imbalances in alternative dispute resolution
- unaffordability of legal costs for small businesses and those not eligible for legal aid
- the interface between technology used by the legal profession and online court systems
- protecting and enabling access to justice in an era of ‘big data’
- sustainability of the civil legal aid system
Our work is supported by an advisory group made up of experts including academics, specialist non-governmental organisations, legal professionals, LawTech leaders, business and consumer groups.
If LASPO has taught us one thing, it is that we must be on the front foot when it comes to the risks and strategic opportunities for our justice system.
The civil justice system and access to it are fundamental to a society rooted in the rule of law.
Yet today, many people are priced out of justice or waiting years to get it.
As a champion of access to justice, the Law Society will continue to fight for a justice system that works for everyone, and we will take the lead in developing solutions which will meet the needs of solicitors and their clients into the future.
Lubna Shuja is president of the Law Society of England and Wales
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