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Anon 2.28. From a report published by the Consumer Panel in April:

"The current model is broken. Despite efforts by a wide range of individuals, firms, advice agencies, regulators, professional bodies and others, the continuous patching up of legal services for those most likely to have unmet legal need, is not enough to address systemic causes and barriers to access to justice. This lack of access to justice is entrenching inequality, impacting on community trust and is inefficient, unresponsive, and ineffective".

"The legal aid budget has been reduced by a quarter in real terms over the last decade. Continued use of the market model, contracting for work in particular areas of law to lawyers, has led to payment rates that are commercially unviable, or unmanageable administrative burdens. Publicly funded legal advice and support is unavailable in wide geographical areas. Charities, philanthropic funding, and law student clinics try, but – with limited and decreasing resources, staff and current levels of funding – cannot fill the gap. This creates a two-tiered justice system where those with resources can avail themselves of legal expertise and the courts while others cannot."

"There is an endemic and substantial problem of retention in the legal aid sector in England and Wales with significant challenges in Wales, both for individuals and the firms in which they might train."

"Most significant is the deficit in public funding of access to justice work. Most of the participants conceded that they had little expectation the UK government would address unmet legal need or access to justice through the injection of sufficient funds into charities, law centres and legal aid. However, participants maintained that it was still a fundamental role of government to fund adequate access to justice, despite the concession."