Have your say on legal aid! Deadline for responses – 12pm, Monday 14th Feb

The consultation by the Ministry of Justice on changes to legal aid in England and Wales closes at midday on Monday 14^th of February. If implemented, the proposed changes would greatly reduce the ability of people on low incomes to get specialised legal advice and representation on a wide range of issues. 

We think many migrants, asylum seekers and refugees would be especially hit by the proposed changes. Many community and advice organisations that serve migrants and refugees (MRCOs), the first point of call for many in need of advice and assistance, would also find it more difficult to provide effective help to clients if the changes go ahead.

Last Tuesday MRN, together with the Migrant and Refugee Communities Forum (MRCF), held a public meeting to discuss the role of MRCOS in providing advice and how they use legal aid in their work. We heard accounts from around twenty community support organisations about the value of legal aid support for their users, and the implications of the changes. We also heard from three experts about the details of the proposed changes and the ways that groups can act to voice their concerns to the government.

Drawing on the issues raised at this meeting, MRN and MRCF prepared responses to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) consultation. However, the more organisations expressing their objections to these proposals the better! We would like to urge all organisations concerned about the changes to submit their own response to the government.

There is no need to answer all the questions: we haven’t. Like us, you can focus on those questions on which you have something to say based on your experience. We would like to encourage anybody interested to use the MRN response in their response. If you are responding on behalf of a community based organisation, you can use the attached template to respond.

If you want to check the consultation document you can find it here. Alternatively, the response can be submitted online or you can email your response to legalaidreformmoj@justice.gsi.gov.uk  

And here is a summary of the key issues to remind you why it’s urgent to act!
 

What is legal aid:

Legal aid is funding provided by the government to provide legal advice and representation to individuals who cannot afford it. Legal aid funds advice and representation at court and is provided by organisations and law firms contracted to do so by the Ministry of Justice.

The proposals to change legal aid:

The current proposal aims to introduce changes to legal aid in order to reduce spending and encourage people to resolve their disputes outside of court. Through the changes the Ministry of Justice expects to save up to £350 million per year.

The main changes proposed are:

• Reduction in the issues which can be funded by legal aid. Immigration cases would no longer be funded by legal aid unless they are asylum or detention cases. Other areas of law, including housing, employment and family law (which also affect many migrants and refugees) would also be excluded from legal aid.
• Raising the threshold for clients to be eligible for legal aid support.
• That publicly funded legal advice be provided via a telephone helpline rather than in face-to-face contact wherever possible.
• Reduction in fees paid to advice providers.

Why is this particularly important for migrant support organizations (MRCOs)?

Many MRCOs carry out work that prevents issues with clients reaching a point where specialist advice or court proceedings are needed. Their advice, support and signposting are key to solving minor issues before they become too complicated (and more expensive). However, many MRCOs carry out work that depends on specialist advice funded by legal aid. In other cases MRCOs need legal aid funded advice when their clients have complex issues.

While most MRCOs are not funded by legal aid themselves, many work in partnership with or refer clients to legal aid providers. If the changes go forward, the ability of MRCOs to help people with complex cases (including immigration cases) will be seriously limited as they would not be able to refer poorer clients to specialist providers unless their cases remain within a narrow set of issues. MRCOs are likely find themselves even more stretched than currently.