‘Breaking point’ advice services need more government help, as
recession bites
12th June 2009
The government needs to move faster to revamp legal aid funding,
as the recession pushes advice services to breaking point, Unite,
the largest union in the country, has said.
Unite is particularly concerned that people with complex cases
are finding it harder to get a legal aid solicitor, or an advice
agency to take them on, while Citizens Advice reports over a 20 per
cent jump in demand for its services.
Unite said that the Justice Ministry’s Study of Legal Advice at
Local Level, published yesterday (Thursday, 11 June), was ‘a
half-way house on the road to action’.
Unite national officer for the community and non profit sector,
Rachael Maskell, said: "We acknowledge that the government has
grasped the scale of the problem, but this document is littered
with phrases like ‘further work to be done’ when what is required
is an immediate revamping of the Legal Services Commission (LSC)
funding mechanisms.
"The current fixed fees are simply inadequate and too low.
For example, an agency cannot deal properly with a complex
homelessness case for a young person which may take several hours
to resolve and yet the organisation will only be paid for a fixed
rate.
"Cash flow problems and under-resourcing of cases are destroying
the sector."
Rachael Maskell said what this meant in practice was that legal
advice organisations could not afford to take on the most complex
cases and those specialist organisations which dealt with such
cases would collapse financially. Many are at breaking point.
Said Rachel: "As demand for debt and housing advice always lags
behind the economic cycle, there will be a pent-up demand for legal
advice which is not yet apparent. We urge the government to inject
a greater sense of urgency into improving the funding mechanisms,
as the recession plays havoc with so many lives."
Unite has campaigned over the way the scheme was introduced by
the LSC and how it is hitting voluntary sector staff, who face
reductions in their pay and conditions, or even lose their jobs, as
their organisations make savings to conform to the LSC’s financial
strait-jacket.
ENDS
NOTES TO NEWS EDITORS:
Unite believes that legal assistance is being reduced, as a
result of the introduction of fixed fees per case, for groups such
as:
- those with literacy difficulties
- mental health problems
- disabilities
- asylum seekers and refugees
This is because the rates at which work is notionally ‘charged’
under the new LSC scheme are, on average, three times lower than
the average solicitor’s hourly rate.
For further information, please contact:
Rachael Maskell, National Officer, Community and Non Profit
Sector on 020 7420 8979 or 07768 693933 or Shaun Noble,
communications officer, on 020 7780 4080 or 07768 693 940
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