civil legal aid reported - baringfoundation.org.uk · legal issues that impact directly on children...

Social welfare law:what the public wantsfrom civil legal aidFindings from a nationwide opinion poll

www.lag.org.uk/civillegalaidlaw survey

About Legal Action Group

Legal Action Group (LAG) promotes accessto justice as a fundamental democratic right. We are a national charity that isindependent of the providers and funders oflegal services. We seek to represent theinterests of the public, particularly thevulnerable and socially excluded, inimproving legal services, the law and theadministration of justice. LAG undertakespolicy research on access to justice issues,particularly the funding, quality andavailability of legal services for the public.Through our publications and trainingcourses for lawyers and advisers, LAG seeksto increase the quality and availability oflegal advice. LAG is self-financing: ourpublishing and educational activities providemost of our income.

LAG is grateful to the Baring Foundation,which funded the research and publicationof this report, with special thanks toMatthew Smerdon, deputy director at theBaring Foundation. This report has beenwritten by Steve Hynes, LAG’s director.

Executive summary ofresearch findingsand recommendations

● The government is in danger of ignoringcompletely the strong views of the public inits plans to cut much of civil legal aid.

● Despite the publicity around the need tocut public expenditure over the past twoyears, there is a persistent belief among thepublic that it is fair for the state to fundadvice in common civil legal problems.

● 82% of respondents believed that freeadvice on common civil legal problemsshould be available to everyone, or at leastto those who earn less than the averagenational income (ie, £25,000 per year)compared with 84% of respondents in Socialwelfare law: what is fair? Findings from anationwide opinion poll survey (see below),which was published by LAG in 2010.1

● Support for legal services paid for by the state was consistent across the social classes.

● People in social class DE were the leastlikely to be willing to use the internet ortelephone to obtain advice.

● There was rising support across all socialclasses for employment law advice to bepaid for by the state. We concluded that thisincrease was caused by respondents’ anxietyover their employment rights because of theeconomic slowdown.

Cover image: Corbis Cusp / Alamy

Designed and typeset by Boldface

Printed by Reflex Litho Ltd

Background

In November 2010, LAG published Socialwelfare law: what is fair? which detailed thefindings of a nationwide opinion poll surveyconducted by GfK NOP on the public’s viewsabout civil legal advice services. This reportdetails the results of a follow up opinion poll survey, again undertaken by GfK NOP in January 2012 on LAG’s behalf. A cross-section of 1,000 randomly selectedmembers of the public were questioned in atelephone survey which took place from 13to 15 January 2012. The results werecompared with those from the opinion pollsurvey which was conducted in 2010. Astatistical test (ie, a two-tailed T test, Z test)was applied to the findings to identify thosewhere there was a statistically significantdifference compared with the 2010 opinionpoll survey.2

Overall, the 2010 and 2012 opinion pollsurveys were consistent in their findings:both showed a high level of public supportfor the availability of state-funded advice incommon areas of civil law, often referred toas social welfare law (SWL). The 2012opinion poll survey showed a significantchange in the priority that the public gave tothe need for advice on employment lawcompared with the 2010 opinion poll survey.

Recommendations

● The proposed cuts to legal aid for benefits,employment law and housing advice shouldbe reversed (at a cost of £40m) as 82% ofthe public believes that it is fair that thestate should provide free advice to everyonein such cases or at least to those whoseincome is at or below the national average.

● Reflecting the public’s main priority ofprotecting children, custody cases and otherlegal issues that impact directly on childrenshould continue to be covered by the legalaid system.

● Advice on debt should be paid for by thefinancial services industry, at least to a levelthat replaces the funding which is being lostfrom legal aid.

● Provision should be made in the Legal Aid,Sentencing and Punishment of OffendersBill, known as the Legal Aid Bill, to allowfor the extension of legal aid to other areasof law. This would be in keeping withprevious legislation and would give futuregovernments the flexibility to respond todemand for services caused bydevelopments in the law, shifts in demandand public opinion, as well as other factors.

● The government should adopt a polluter-pays policy, which should include other armsof the state paying for the knock-on cost tothe legal aid system.

● Plans to filter cases through a mandatorytelephone gateway should be dropped as thepeople who qualify for legal aid are the leastlikely to use such services.

Social welfare law: what the public wants from civil legal aid • 1

1 Available at: www.lag.org.uk/socialwelfarelawsurvey.2 See: www.surveystar.com/our_services/ztest.htm.

Introduction

The Legal Services Commission (LSC) refersto community care law, debt, employment,housing and welfare benefits as SWL. LAGincludes immigration law in the definition ofSWL, but this area is excluded by the LSC asit contracts separately for immigration lawservices. When designing the 2010 and 2012opinion poll surveys, it was decided toinclude benefits and tax credits, debt,employment law and housing, as these arethe most common enquiries. These areas ofSWL can be characterised as the law ofeveryday life, such is the demand forassistance with them. Much of the advice onsuch cases under the legal aid scheme iscarried out by charities such as CitizensAdvice Bureaux. Table 1 breaks down theSWL enquiries dealt with by Citizens AdviceBureaux in 2010/2011.3

2 • Social welfare law: what the public wants from civil legal aid

Challenging times: the policy and spending context

In November 2010, a consultation paper onlegal aid, Proposals for the reform of legal aidin England and Wales, was published.4 Thepaper outlined £350m in cuts to the legalaid scheme the majority of which, £251m,were aimed at reducing the areas of civil lawcovered by the scheme. Currently, the LegalAid Bill is before parliament, and if it is notamended most of what was proposedoriginally by the government will beimplemented, ie, divorce, clinical negligenceand benefit cases will be among those areasof law cut from scope.

In June 2011, the government produced anupdated impact assessment on its proposedcuts.5 This estimated that around 600,000people will lose out on help with civil legalproblems (the administration’s originalestimate was just over 500,000 people). Atotal of £280m in funding will be cut fromcivil legal aid: 130m from legal help (adviceonly); and £150m from legal representation.The total estimate of the SWL cuts is around£81m and is set out in Table 2. (Readersshould note that community care law is notbeing cut from scope.)

In addition, since publishing its originalestimate in November 2010, thegovernment has revised its plans as follows:

● £16m more will be cut from non-familylegal help;

● £15m less will be cut from legalrepresentation, ie, £8m less will be cut fromfamily and remaining £7m from the othercategories of civil law).

Nevertheless, a total of 371,800 members ofthe public will lose out on advice andrepresentation in SWL cases.

TABLE 1 SWL enquiries dealt with by Citizens AdviceBureaux in 2010/2011

Enquiry area Number of enquiries

Debt 2,268,031 Benefits and tax credits 2,167,999Employment 568,192Housing 504,535Immigration, asylum and nationality 96,078Health and community care 78,060

TABLE 2 Breakdown of SWL cuts

Area of Advice Number Represent- NumberSWL of cases ation of cases

Debt £20m 105,000 0m* 50Education £0.50 2,800 £0.5m 70Employment £5m 24,000 £0.5m 70Housing £10m 52,000 £3m 1,200Welfare benefits £25m 135,000 0m 0Immigration £20m 53,000 £1m 290Total £80.5m 371,800 £5m 1,680

* Cost of representation not given by Ministry of Justice.

3 See ‘Citizens Advice annual advice statistics2010/11’, available at: www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/pressoffice/press_statistics.htm.

4 Available at: www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/consultations/legal-aid-reform-consultation.pdf.

5 Available at: www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/consultations/annex-a-scope.pdf.

The cuts in scope to legal aid are due to beimplemented in April 2013.6 Currently, thereare around 2,000 firms undertaking civillegal aid work, mainly in family law, and justunder 300 charities and other not for profit(NFP) organisations with legal aid contractsthat are almost entirely in SWL.7 If the LegalAid Bill becomes law with no majoramendments, about 50 per cent of civil legalaid firms will cease to undertake legal aidwork, and apart from housing cases in whichrepossession is threatened, much of the workthat NFP organisations carry out will be cut.LAG believes that over 80 per cent of NFPproviders will be forced to leave the legalaid system.


Opinion poll survey results

Advice servicesSummaryIn the survey, respondents were asked thefollowing questions on seeking advice onbenefits, employment law, housing or moneyproblems (such as debt):

● Where they had sought advice (if they haddone so in the last year) or where theywould seek advice from if they needed to inthe future;

● How far they travelled (or would travel) toseek such advice; and

● Which kind of problem they hadsought advice.

Problems reportedA total of 209 respondents reported needingadvice on one or more of the following areasof law in the last year (see Table 3).

Where would you go for advice?

● 43% of respondents got advice from theirlocal advice centre. (While this figure hadincreased from 37% in the 2010 opinion pollsurvey, the difference between the surveyswas not found to be statistically significant.)

TABLE 3 Problems reported

Area of SWL % needing advice

Benefits 29%Employment 29%Housing 26%Money/Debt 16%

6 Hansard HC Written Ministerial Statement cols74WS–75WS, 1 December 2011.

7 See the Legal Services Commission’s Annual reportand accounts 2010-11, p6, available at:www.legalservices.gov.uk/docs/about_us_main/LSC_AnnualReport_2010-11.pdf.

● Internet and telephone use had risen from35% in the 2010 opinion poll survey to 43%in the 2012 opinion poll survey, but againthis increase was not found to bestatistically significant. People in social classDE remain the least likely to use internet andtelephone advice services.

● 14% of respondents in the 2012 opinionpoll survey had sought advice from asolicitor. (See Table 4 for further details)

● Around 50 per cent of respondents whohad sought advice about a benefit problemcame from people in social class DE (ie, 47out of 99 respondents); in addition, people inthis social group were more likely thanrespondents in other social groups to havesought advice on other problems.

● Needing advice on employment law wasthe most evenly distributed area by socialclass. Of the whole sample group of 1,000people, the percentage needing advice onemployment law broke down as follows: – 8% of people in social class AB;– 9% of people in social class C1;– 8% of people in social class C2; and– 14% of people in social class DE.


Levels of satisfaction with the advicerespondents had received were consistentbetween the 2010 and 2012 opinion pollsurveys with no significant statisticaldifferences: (See Table 5)

● 83% of respondents in the 2012 opinionpoll survey who had used advice serviceswere either ‘very satisfied’ or ‘quite satisfied’with the advice received. (However, theplanned cut back in services might well havean impact on these levels of satisfaction, asmembers of the public will either receive amuch reduced service or none at all.)

How far did you travel to get advice?There was little difference between the 2010and 2012 opinion poll surveys over thedistance respondents had travelled to obtainadvice:

● Of those respondents who had travelledfive or fewer miles:– 65% had do so in the 2010 opinion pollsurvey compared with 67% in the 2012opinion poll survey; and

● Of those respondents who had travelledmore than five miles:– 20% had do so in the 2010 opinion pollsurvey compared with 19% in the 2012opinion poll survey. (It will be interesting toobserve if there is a significant difference inthe travel distances post April-2013 and theremoval of a large amount of SWL workfrom the legal aid scheme.)

● Of those respondents who had notobtained advice in the last year:– 51% in the 2012 opinion poll survey saidthat they would travel five miles or less toseek advice (the same percentage asrespondents in the 2010 opinion pollsurvey); and– 40% in the 2010 opinion poll survey saidthat they would travel five miles or more to obtain advice comparedwith 41% in 2012 opinion poll survey.

TABLE 5 Level of satisfaction

2010 opinion 2012 opinionpoll survey poll survey

Very satisfied 35% 35%Quite satisfied 40% 48%Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied 17% 11%Quite dissatisfied 4% 4%Very dissatisfied 4% 2%

TABLE 4 Where would you go for advice?

Source of advice % seeking advice

Local advice centre such as Citizens Advice Bureau 43%Internet and telephone 43%Solicitor 14%Another advisor ??%

Where would you go for advice?There was a remarkable similarity between2010 and 2012 opinion poll survey findingswhen respondents who had not soughtadvice in the last year were asked wherewould they go if they needed advice:

● 66% of respondents in both surveys saidthat they would seek advice from their localCitizen’s Advice Bureau or advice centre;

● 26% in both surveys said that they wouldgo to a solicitor; and

● 37% in both surveys said that they wouldseek help through an advice telephonehelpline or the internet.

People in social class DE were least likely towant to use the internet or a telephoneadvice line compared with people in othersocial classes. The number of respondentswho said that they would seek advice inthese ways had actually dropped from 24per cent in the 2010 opinion poll survey to17 per cent in the 2012 opinion poll survey;however, this fall was not a statisticallysignificant finding.

Paying for advice: what is fair?The opinion poll survey asked two questionsto try and discern the public’s view on whatlegal advice services the state should pay forand the priority that should be given tofunding different areas of work. Tables givingthe responses to these two questions brokendown by sex, age and social class arereproduced in the appendix to this report.

Attitudes to state funding for adviceTo assess public attitudes to the state payingfor the cost of representing clients in SWLcases, respondents were asked the followingquestion:

Good legal advice is very important toanyone in a court case, but it can be veryexpensive. When people cannot afford tocover the cost it is mainly paid for by legalaid and other government funding, but asyou may be aware there is pressure on legalaid and other public services due to budgetcuts. Please tell me which one of thefollowing you agree with?


Respondents had the following options:

1 Everyone should be entitled to free adviceregardless of how much they earn;

2 Advice should be free only to people whoearn less than the average national income(£25,000);

3 These services should be free only topeople on benefits; or

4 These services should not be freeto anyone.

(There was also a ‘Do not know’ option.)

The findings of the 2010 and 2012 opinionpoll surveys were similar (see Table 6). Therewas a significant difference in the responsesto option two and this might indicate a shiftto either free services for all or the morerestrictive options three and four.

● 82% of respondents in the 2012 opinionpoll survey believed that advice servicesshould be either free to everyone or to those earning less than the average national income.

TABLE 6 State funding for advice


Everyone should be entitled 41% 45%to free advice regardless ofhow much they earn

Advice should be free only to those 44% 37%people who earn less than theaverage national income (£25,000)

These services should only be 9% 10%free to those people on benefits

These services should not be free 5% 6%to anyone

Do not know 2% 2%

In an opinion poll survey of London residentscommissioned by LAG in 2011, 50 per centof respondents said that they believed thatservices should be free to everyonecompared with 45 per cent in the nationwide2012 opinion poll survey.8 This is astatistically significant result, so it can beconcluded that London residents are moresupportive of the state paying for free legaladvice services. A possible explanation forthis difference is the high cost of livingin London.

There is a large gap between public opinionand the reality of the legal advice servicesavailable that are funded by the state. Legalaid is only available for advice in benefitsand employment law cases, to receiverepresentation, for example, if a case needsto go to a tribunal, the applicant has to fundit him/herself or rely on a service whichreceives financial support, usually from alocal council, to provide representation.9

As a result of the means test for legal aid,few people qualify even for advice inemployment law and the total legal aidbudget for advice in this area is just £5m.(See Table 2)

Support for legal services paid for by thestate was remarkably consistent across thesocial classes in the 2010 and 2012 opinionpoll surveys. For example:

● 41% of people in social class AB in the2012 opinion poll survey chose option onecompared with 39% of people in the sameclass in the 2010 opinion poll survey;

● 43% of people in social class DE in the2012 opinion poll survey chose option onecompared with 37% of people in the sameclass in the 2010 opinion poll survey;

● 37% of people in social class AB in the2012 opinion poll survey chose option twocompared with 43% of people in the samesocial class in the 2010 opinion poll survey;and

● 38% of people in social class DE in the2012 opinion poll survey chose option twocompared with 43% of people in the samesocial class in the 2010 opinion poll survey.


The 2010 and 2012 opinion poll surveyfindings confirm that there is a high level ofsupport for the state paying for adviceservices in the four areas of SWL and thatthis backing is remarkably uniform across allsections of society. It would appear that thepublic’s expectation is that if they have aproblem in one of these areas of law theyshould be entitled to representation andlegal advice, especially if they are earningless than the average national income.Significantly also, even if people come froma social class least likely to experience aproblem, the belief seems to predominatethat the state should pay for services to helppeople whose income is at or below thenational average.

The similarity between 2010 and 2012opinion poll survey findings is perhapssurprising given the publicity around theneed to cut public expenditure which hasoccurred over the past two years. Theconsistency in support for state funding forlegal advice might confirm that there is apersistent belief among the public that it isfair for the state to fund services in theseareas of SWL for everyone, or at least tothose people whose income is at or belowthe average national. In reality, legal aid foradvice in SWL is only available to people ator just above means-tested benefit rates.There is therefore a continuing large gapbetween the public’s expectations of whatshould be – and the reality of what is –available when they experience a problem.

8 Fiona Bawdon and Steve Hynes, London advicewatch: findings of a research project on provision ofsocial welfare law advice in London, December 2011,available at: www.lag.org.uk/files/93986/FileName/LondonSWLReportFinal.pdf.

9 Appeals of decision from employment tribunals tothe Employment Appeal Tribunal and higher courtsare covered by the certificated scheme.

Prioritising adviceTo respondents’ attitude to prioritisingthe kind of advice that should be paidfor by the state, they were asked thefollowing question:

If you had to prioritise three different areasof advice for the government to pay for,which areas are most important? Please giveme your top three.

The choices were as follows:

● Divorce and relationship breakdown;

● Housing (for example, advice onhomelessness, evictions and disrepair claimsagainst landlords);

● Child protection;

● Debt;

● Benefits;

● Employment;

● None of these; and

● Do not know.

It was decided to include divorce as this isone of the major cuts in civil legal aidproposed by the government. Childprotection is also included as this makes upthe bulk of work that will remain in thescope of the civil legal aid scheme. As can be seen from Table 7a, childprotection advice remains the highestpriority for state funding, with housing insecond place. However, there is a markedemployment-law effect as there is astatistically significant 6 per cent increase inrespondents who prioritised employmentlaw advice, ie, 53 per cent in the 2010opinion poll survey compared with 59 percent in the 2012 opinion poll survey. Further analysis of this finding shows thatthere is an increase in support across thesocial classes for employment lawadvice being a priority for state support.(See Table 7b)


The findings in respect of people in socialclasses C2 and DE are statistically significantas there has been a shift in support foremployment law advice. Furthermore, therehas been a statistically significant shift bypeople in social class DE from support forchild protection (ie, from 70 per in the 2010opinion poll survey to 59 per cent in the2012 opinion poll survey) to employmentlaw advice (ie, from 40 per cent in the 2010opinion poll survey to 52 per cent in the2012 opinion poll survey). There is also astatistically significant shift in opinionamong people in the South East (readersshould note that the South East category didnot include London): in the 2010 opinion pollsurvey 42 per cent of respondents prioritisedemployment law advice compared with 62per cent in the 2012 opinion poll survey.

TABLE 7b Prioritising advice


AB 54% 61%C1 58% 60%C2 59% 66%DE 40% 52%

TABLE 7a Prioritising advice


Divorce andrelationship breakdown 17% 16%Housing 67% 63%Child protection 70% 69%Debt 36% 35%Benefits 36% 30%Employment 53% 59%None of these 2% 2%Do not know 3% 3%

The findings of the 2010 and 2012 opinionpoll surveys were consistent. Therespondents prioritised child protection andhousing as the two most important areas forstate-funded support, followed byemployment law, debt and benefits. Therewas a statistically significant shift to supportfor employment law services, particularlyamong people in the South East and in socialclasses C2 and DE. This might be because ofincreasing anxiety about job security andother employment-related problems amongpeople as a result the impact of the recession.

Social welfare law: what the publicwants from civil legal aidThroughout the history of legal aid,successive governments have adjusted whatwork is covered by the system. Chief amongthe factors which has determined this is theneed to meet international legal obligations,including those under the EuropeanConvention on Human Rights. A large part ofthe current government’s justification forthe planned cuts in legal aid is that it has toprioritise the protection of these rights orrisk falling foul of international law.10 Whatthe administration chooses to ignore is thatthe legal aid system and other state supportfor legal services has also expanded overtime because of social change. In the yearsafter the Second World War, civil lawdeveloped rapidly. Laws were approved byparliament which increased people’sindividual rights in response to politicalpressure, but awareness of and the means ofenforcing these rights lagged behind. At faultwas a complacent legal profession that wasunwilling to expand into these areas of lawand government that did not prioritisepolicies which would increase the take up oflegal rights.


In 1973 the forerunner of today’s legal helpscheme, the green form scheme, wasestablished largely because it was recognisedby the political parties that the law wasfailing to serve the public. In the late 1960stwo influential papers, Justice for all from theSociety of Labour Lawyers and Rough justiceby the Society of Conservative Lawyersargued that legal services needed to betterreflect the needs of poorer communities. Thegreen form scheme was created to do thisand led to the growth in non-family lawcases being covered by civil legal aid.

LAG does not argue that public opinionshould trump all other factors in decidingwhat areas of law should receive statesupport for legal advice services;nevertheless, we do believe that thegovernment is in danger of ignoringcompletely the strong views of the public inits plans to cut much of civil legal aid. Thecuts to the legal help scheme are especiallysignificant as this provides much of theinitial advice and assistance on common civillegal problems with which the wider publicidentifies. The shift in opinion on prioritisingemployment law illustrates how non-legalfactors, such as the downturn in theeconomy, can lead to a greater demand forstate-funded advice services. This should notbe ignored by the government as the publichas the clear belief that it is fair for the stateto provide these services.

Support for legal services paid for the statein these everyday areas of law has beenconsistent between the 2010 and 2012opinion poll surveys. We believe that thisreflects a strong culture of fair play inrespect of legal rights. Many people believethat even if they should not qualify for freelegal advice, a safety net should be in placeto ensure that the state pays for legal adviceto assist individuals when things go wrong intheir lives. What the public wants, it wouldseem, is a system which either provides freeadvice to everyone on civil legal problems orone that at least serves people whoseincome is at or below the national average.What they see as the priorities for such asystem are the protection of children, adviceon housing and, increasingly, employmentlaw with benefits and debt having less, butstill significant, priority. Help with divorce10 See note 4, p16.

and relationship break up-related legalproblems has the lowest support by somemargin. Given the priority attached to theprotection of children, it would seem right toassume that the public would want access tolegal aid to be preserved for those aspects ofdivorce and relationship break up caseswhich impact on children.

In response to concerns about the impact ofthe proposed cuts on the NFP sector, thegovernment introduced a £20m adviceservices fund to assist NFP organisationsundergoing cuts in the current year. LAGwelcomed this fund and the announcementof the review of advice services beingundertaken currently by the Cabinet Office;however, it should be stressed that thegovernment is giving no guarantees overwhat will happen to these organisations andtheir clients when, inApril 2013, legal aid for the bulk of SWLcases is cut.

Polluter paysLAG welcomes the levy on the financialservices industry which from April 2012 willcontribute £83.8m to the provision of adviceon money matters and debt problems. Thelevy will be collected by the FinancialServices Authority and the fund will beadministered by the Money Advice Service.11

It seems that while the government is willingto impose a polluter-pays policy on thefinancial services industry, the administrationis unwilling to look to other arms of thestate to contribute to the legal aid funddespite the recommendation of the JusticeSelect Committee report on legal aid.12

In evidence before the committee, JonathanDjanogly the justice minister revealed that inthe 2011/12 financial year a sum of £21.1mwill be transferred from the Department forWork and Pensions (DWP) to the Ministry ofJustice (MoJ). This sum is to compensatethe MoJ for the cost of the introduction ofthe employment and support allowance onthe tribunal system which the MoJadministers.13 However, £25m will be cutfrom the legal aid budget for welfarebenefits advice. (See Table 2) The committeerejected the government’s argument thatthe imposition of a levy on otherdepartments would not assist with the need


to make budget cuts; it believed, as doesLAG, that the introduction of a chargingpolicy would provide a ‘financial incentive topublic authorities to get their decisions rightfirst time’.14

The shake up of the benefits system whichwill happen when the Welfare Reform Billbecomes law will have a significant knock-onimpact on the demand for advice and thetribunal system. Finding the cash from theDWP’s budget to continue to fund legal aidin welfare benefits would, LAG believes,meet the public’s expectation that it is fairto provide advice in this area of law.

11 ‘Money advice service to expand scope and reachmillions more customers’, Money Advice Servicepress release, 2 February, available at:www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/_assets/downloads/pdfs/press_releases/money_advice_service_reach_millions_more_customers.pdf.

12 Government’s proposed reform of legal aid. Thirdreport of session 2010–11, HC 681–I, p26, availableat: www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmselect/cmjust/681/68102.htm.

13 Steve Hynes, ‘Justice Committee legal aid reportfalls short’, May 2011 Legal Action 8–9.

14 See note 12, p27.

Recommendations

The government’s proposals in the Legal AidBill fall far short of the public’s expectationsof what the legal aid system should provide.Therefore, based on the findings of LAG’s2010 opinion poll survey, we make thefollowing recommendations:

● The proposed cuts to benefits,employment law and housing cases shouldbe reversed (at a cost of £40m) as 82 percent of the public believes that it is fair thatthe state should provide free advice toeveryone in such cases or at least to thosewhose income is at or below the nationalaverage.

● Reflecting the public’s main priority ofprotecting children, custody cases and otherlegal issues that impact directly on childrenshould continue to be covered by the legalaid system.

● Provision should be made in the Legal AidBill to allow for the extension of legal aid toother areas of law. This would be in keepingwith previous legislation and would givefuture governments the flexibility to respondto demand for services caused bydevelopments in the law, shifts in publicopinion, as well as other factors.

● The government should adopt a polluter-pays policy, which should includeother arms of the state paying for the knock-on cost to the legal aid system.

● Plans to filter cases through a telephonegateway should be dropped, as the peoplewho qualify for legal aid are the least likelyto use such services.


Conclusion

LAG believes that withdrawing state supportfor SWL will leave a large section of thepopulation without recourse to legal advice.We think that this will have a damagingimpact on social cohesion and, ultimately,undermine the rule of law as the belief willgrow that civil legal rights are a luxury openonly to the few people with the resources topay for legal advice or who qualify for a freeservice under human rights legislation.

The reasons why access to civil legal aid wasopened up nearly 40 years ago have notgone away. The state still makes decisions onpeople’s lives over everything from providinga home to disability benefits, and gets itwrong on many occasions; in a democracy,people should be given a chance to challengesuch decisions. Equally, large corporationswith plenty of resources can neglect therights of individuals, and it is up to thestate to ensure equality before the law insuch cases.

If the Legal Aid Bill is not amended, LAGbelieves that the downgrading of access tocivil legal rights will rebound on thegovernment. A public that is disenfranchisedfrom civil justice will become increasinglydisillusioned and frustrated, which will inturn feed a mood for change.


Sex

Age

Soci

al c

lass

Tota

lM

ale

Fem

ale

16-2

425

-34

35-4

445

-54

55-6

465

+A

BC1

C2D

E

Unw

eigh

ted

tota

l10

0048

751

311

713

319

216

715

723

421

231

621

026

249

%

51%

12%

13%

19%

17%

16%

23%

21%

32%

21%

26%

Wei

ghte

d to

tal

1000

485

515

127

143

187

171

153

219

220

313

218

249

49%

51%

13%

14%

19%

17%

15%

22%

22%

31%

22%

25%

Ever

yone

sho

uld

be e

ntitl

ed44

721

423

3 77

74

95

77

50

74

91

140

110

107

to fr

ee a

dvic

e re

gard

less

of

45%

44%

45%

61%

52%

51%

45%

33%

34%

41%

45%

50%

43%

ho

w m

uch

they

ear

n

Advi

ce s

houl

d be

free

onl

y37

117

719

3 36

46

69

60

74

86

81

118

77

95to

peo

ple

who

ear

n le

ss th

an37

%37

%

38%

28%

32%

37%

35%

49%

39%

37%

38%

35%

38%

the

aver

age

natio

nal i

ncom

e(£

25,0

00)

Thes

e se

rvic

es s

houl

d be

free

102

48

54

10

13

11

15

17

35

22

28

20

32on

ly to

peo

ple

on b

enef

its10

%10

%10

%8%

9%6%

9%11

%16

%10

%9%

9%13

%

Thes

e se

rvic

es s

houl

d no

t be

5832

26

3 8

915

815

2019

910

free

to a

nyon

e6%

7%5%

2%6%

5%9%

5%7%

9%6%

4%4%

Don’

t kno

w23

14

9 1

2 3

4 4

9 6

8 2

6 2%

3%2%

1%1%

2%3%

2%

4%3%

3%1%

3%

Appendix

Q.8 Good legal advice is very important to anyone in a court case, but it can be very expensive.when people cannot afford to cover the cost it is mainly paid for by legal aid and othergovernment funding, but as you may be aware there is pressure on legal aid and other publicservices due to budget cuts. Please tell me which one of the following you agree with. Base: all adults aged 16+

Q.9 If you had to prioritise three different areas of advice for the government to pay out for,which areas are most important? Please give me your top 3. Base: all adults aged 16+


Sex

Age

Soci

al c

lass

Tota

lM

ale

Fem

ale

16-2

425

-34

35-4

445

-54

55-6

465

+A

BC1

C2D

E

Unw

eigh

ted

tota

l10

0048

751

311

713

319

216

715

723

421

231

621

026

249

%

51%

12%

13%

19%

17%

16%

23%

21%

32%

21%

26%

Wei

ghte

d to

tal

1000

485

515

127

143

187

171

153

219

220

313

218

249

49%

51%

13%

14%

19%

17%

15%

22%

22%

31%

22%

25%

Divo

rce

and

rela

tions

hip

161

65

96

22

24

36

27

21

31

48

49

34

29

brea

kdow

n16

%13

%19

%18

%16

%19

%16

%14

%14

%22

%16

%16

%12

%

Hous

ing

(for e

xam

ple

advi

ce62

931

0 32

0 85

90

12

0 10

5 97

13

2 13

6 21

1 13

9 14

3 on

hom

eles

snes

s, ev

ictio

ns63

%64

%62

%67

%63

%64

%62

%63

%61

%62

%67

%64

%57

%

and

disr

epai

r cla

ims

agai

nst

land

lord

s)

Child

pro

tect

ion

686

318

368

86

97

142

108

114

139

170

209

161

147

69%

66%

71%

68%

67

%76

%63

%

74%

63%

77%

67%

74%

59

%

Debt

348

168

180

46

61

61

66

48

66

88

109

63

89

35%

35%

35%

36%

43%

33%

39%

32%

30%

40%

35%

29%

36%

Bene

fits

352

179

172

35

46

59

72

52

88

53

111

82

105

35%

37%

33%

28%

32%

31%

42%

34%

40%

24%

36%

38%

42%

Empl

oym

ent

593

300

293

93

99

118

107

90

86

133

187

145

129

59%

62%

57%

73%

69%

63%

63%

59%

39%

61%

60%

66%

52%

Non

e of

thes

e15

115

13

2–

1 8

3 7

1 4

2%2%

1%1%

2%1%

–*

4%2%

2%*

2%

Don’

t kno

w25

916

1 –

–2

4 17

2

5 4

14

3%2%

3%1%

––

1%3%

8%

1%2%

2%6%

Independent research and information onthe impact of the Legal Aid, Sentencingand Punishment of Offenders Bill

London Advice Watch: findings of a research project on provision ofsocial welfare law advice in London, Fiona Bawdon and Steve Hynes,LAG, December 2011, LAG’s research on the provision of social welfarelaw advice in the capital, was funded by Trust for London.

‘Eighty-eight per cent of Londoners believe that legal advice on benefits,housing, debt and employment law should be either free to everyone or topeople who earn the national average income or below.’ Steve Hynes, LAG’s director

Legal aid in welfare: the tool we can’t afford to lost. Research conductedby Scope, as part of the Justice for All campaign, Scope, November 2011was commissioned by LAG and funded by the Baring Foundation.

‘The success of the government’s welfare reform is dependent on the useof legal aid for appeals to ensure that disabled people get the vital support they need.’Richard Hawkes, Scope’s chief executive

Legal aid is a lifeline: women speak out on the legal aid reforms,National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NWFI), NWFI research,October 2011 was commissioned by LAG and funded by theBaring Foundation. The research examined the impact of thegovernment’s proposals on women who have experienceddomestic violence.

‘We urge the government to listen to what women are telling them andamend the bill before it leaves vulnerable women without support.’Ruth Bond, NWFI chairperson

The reports and further details about LAG research are available at:www.lag.org.uk.

For more information, publications and briefings about Justice for All,the campaign for free legal advice, visit: www.justice-for-all.org.uk/Publications.

civil legal aid reported - baringfoundation.org.uk · legal issues that impact directly on children...

Documents