Punishing homeowners

It is difficult not to view this week's proposals from the Lord Chancellor's Department to reform yet again the eligibility for legal aid in civil cases as a Treasury-led attempt to cut expenditure.Under the guise of efficiency, consistency and simplification, the LCD is proposing, in effect, to reduce eligibility yet again.

With no more than 26% of British households currently eligible for contribution-free state-funded legal advice, any further reduction can only damage an already wobbly position regarding access to justice.Perhaps the most insidious proposal put forward in the Community Legal Service's consultation paper, 'Assessing means Assessment', is the suggestion regarding the disposable capital rules.

If the Lord Chancellor has his way, all applicants with more than 3,000 of equity in their homes 'will be subject to contributions to the cost of their case'.

The LCD goes on to justify this suggestion by saying that it is 'based on the principle that those who can afford to contribute should contribute'.That seems a crass and simplistic approach at best.

As the Law Society has pointed out, such a draconian rule on disposable capital would mean that nearly all home owners - regardless of their wider financial circumstances - would have to make contributions to their state-funded legal advice.That would have a freezing effect on many people with no realistic means of contributing to their costs: eligibility cutting via the back door.