Abolition of the Legal Services Commission welcomed by Unite
8 March 2010
The proposed abolition of the Legal Services Commission (LSC),
which funds the distribution of legal aid, has been welcomed by
Unite, the largest union in the country.
Unite approves of the abolition, proposed in the recent Magee
Report, as it believes that the new organisation to replace it will
be more efficient in supporting the ever-increasing demands on
legal aid services. The new body will be an executive agency
of the Ministry of Justice.
Rachael Maskell, Unite National Officer, Community and Non
Profit Sector, said: ‘Law centres and other independent specialist
advice agencies have been under mounting pressure to meet
increasing client demand with the precarious funding streams
currently in place.’
‘The focus of social welfare advice has to be the service user,
not the funder which is there to support the service. In recent
times the LSC has moved from servant to master.’
‘Under the LSC, the funding mechanisms mean that work is not
adequately costed which leads to the workforce having to work all
hours in this stressful environment in order to meet the contract
demands, while still ending up with a financial deficit.’
‘Unite hopes that the new body, which will be more ‘in-house’,
will be more efficient and proactive in funding the reorganisation
of legal aid.’
'Unite will be campaigning to ensure that the new body, yet to
be established, will work closer with other government departments
and service providers to guarantee that our social welfare support
is as much about supporting the most vulnerable in our society as
is about preventing adverse situations occurring in the first
place.’
‘We hope that there is an opportunity to develop a real dialogue
about the arrangements and to ensure that communities can access
the services that they so badly need.’
-ends-
NOTES TO NEWS EDITORS:
Rachael Maskell, National Officer, Community and Non Profit
Sector, 0207 420 8979 or 07768 693933; Shaun Noble,
Communications Officer (Third Sector) 020 7420 8951 or 07768
693 940 Unite represents over 60,000 members in the Third
Sector.
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