Legal aid cuts ‘could hit 650,000 vulnerable people’
21 June 2011
An estimated 650,000 people could be denied legal aid and advice
to help them with housing, employment and immigration problems
under the proposals in the Justice bill announced today (Tuesday 21
June).
Unite, the largest union in the country with members in advice
centres across the UK, said that the plans unveiled by justice
secretary Ken Clarke represented ‘the raw cruelty and cynicism’
underpinning the coalition’s claims that ‘we are all in this
together’.
Unite national officer for the not for profit sector, Sally Kosky,
said: ”We estimate that 650,000 of the poorest people in the
country will be very hard hit by the swingeing cutbacks to the
legal aid and advice budget of about £350 million a year – we call
on the government to urgently rethink its proposals.
”The damage caused by this bill will be compounded by the economic
hardship generated by the government’s misguided financial
policies.
”Charities will lose up to 75 per cent of all legal aid funding.
Yet the savings to the justice ministry budget will be miniscule -
legal aid costs just 0.3 per cent of GDP.
”Since November ministers have systematically ignored 5,000
responses to the consultation on cutting legal aid’s scope and
availability – over 90 per cent of which were united in condemning
the government for denying access to those seeking help and
representation on debt, education, employment, immigration,
housing, social welfare and family cases.
”Because of the current austerity measures which will cause
joblessness, repossession of homes and relationship breakdowns,
everyone has an interest in a strong legal advice system. It could,
unfortunately, be any of us that suddenly find ourselves in a
moment of need. The government is taking with one hand and using
the other to silence the voices of the disenfranchised, the weak
and the desperate.”
Unite has argued that the government’s £81 billion worth of cuts,
announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review last October, will
heighten the need for the very legal services which are now for the
axe.
Sally Kosky added: ”For those advice services that somehow manage
to survive these brutal cuts, advisors and lawyers will be severely
restricted because of cost constraints as to how much support they
can offer.”
ENDS
Notes to news editors:
- For further information contact Unite communications officer
Shaun Noble on 07768 693940
- The 650,000 figure is calculated in a paper by the Legal Action
Group based on the actual number of people served in the last
financial year – and who would now lose out if the present plans go
through.
- Legal aid costs 0.3 per cent of GDP.
Email to a friend
