Legal aid practitioners have this week hit out at the Legal Services Commission (LSC) over 'appalling' plans to do away with its specialist support service, condemning it as an 'immeasurable' blow to access to justice.

The LSC admitted it had made a 'difficult decision' in ending the service in July. It provides back-up support for solicitors from expert lawyers involving free telephone advice, help with casework, and external supervision and training for legal advisers. The LSC argued it could save millions and help more people by channelling the saved cash directly into helping clients.


A spokesman said: 'The commission is firm that the decision does not represent cuts to the legal help budget, and we will continue to spend the same amount of money to ensure the sustainable expansion of services to our clients, through face-to-face and CLS (Community Legal Service) Direct services.'


He added: 'Releasing the specialist support budget could free up £2.3 million in 2006/07. This is sufficient to provide just under 9,000 additional acts of assistance in the current financial year or support the expansion of CLS Direct to provide easily accessible information and advice. This supports our corporate objectives to help 55,000 more vulnerable people access legal aid in the coming year. This is within the context of a limited legal aid budget.'


However, the Legal Aid Practitioners Group (LAPG) said the LSC was being short-sighted, as the service had been 'a lifeline' to many socially-excluded people and those based in rural areas. 'This is an appalling decision,' director Richard Miller argued. 'It is the one service that can mitigate the very damaging effects of reducing the number of face-to-face services proposed by the CLS strategy. It has been one of the major success stories of the first five years of the LSC.'


LAPG chairman Roy Morgan, sole principal at Cardiff firm Morgans - which acted under the service - predicted the ditching of the project would backfire if the LSC thought firms could sufficiently supplant the service through telephone advice. 'Treasury pressure has forced the LSC to refocus its funding on new or existing projects,' he said. 'The damage that will be done to access and sustainability is immeasurable.'