The Legal Aid Bill - last chance to act

The past few weeks have seen the MRN team renewing efforts to generate action in opposition to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill – which after much debate in the Lords will return to the House of Commons in early March.

The Bill would introduce one of the most radical reforms to immigration advice provision, among other areas, for years. It would all but remove immigration (but not asylum) cases from the scope of legal aid – meaning that people who couldn’t afford to pay for legal advice on immigration matters would have significantly fewer options open to them. As things stand now, there is no provision even for ‘exceptional’ immigration cases (e.g. involving children or disabled people) to qualify for support.

Analysis in the Guardian predicted that the reduction in public funding for immigration advice will remove around 43,700 immigration cases from the legal aid bill – saving government coffers around £18m a year. The Legal Advice Service reports that just short of 25,000 cases removed from legal aid scope will be in London.  As we have blogged about before, the problems arising for migrants as a result of these changes would be considerable, particularly for those with complex immigration cases. If the Bill is passed, it is going to be much more difficult for people who cannot afford to pay to access advice and representation on issues like family reunion or challenging removal from the UK. Others wanting to lodge appeals against UKBA decisions will find this also taken out of scope - they will have to pay for legal support, or represent themselves.

There will be knock-on effects for the advice sector too. By cutting legal aid, the government intends people to increasingly resolve their cases through out-of-court mediation, self-representation and through the not-for-profit advice sector filling the gaps. But this will not work for many immigration cases. Immigration advice is regulated by the OISC meaning that organisations cannot just step into the breach to support people if legal aid is withdrawn.

Many of the 130 or so migrant and refugee support organisations currently registered with the OISC are registered at Level 1 – meaning they can provide generalist advice but are not allowed to do casework or represent clients in court. Many of the groups which we are in touch with have been concerned about the difficult position they will be put in by this Bill – people are likely to come to them for support but they will be limited in what they can do to help. There is also likely to be a particular squeeze on advice services outside of London.

So what now? The Bill had somewhat disappeared from public view over the past few months whilst peers have been involved in complex legal stock-taking over possible amendments to the Bill. It will go to report stage on 5^th March, from which it will be too late to do anything more. ILPA has been regularly briefing peers on potential amendments and wider issues around the Bill, which you can access here.

What can I do?

• Until then, however, it is not too late to write to your local MP. In particular, if you are an advice provider and are concerned about the impact of this Bill on your clients or on your organisation, you can use the MRN template letter to contact your MP and let them know. For more information email Juan Camilo at j.camilo@migrantsrights.org.uk.
   
• There will be a small meeting of the APPG on Migration on Tuesday 28^th February from 6 – 7pm in parliament to debate the impact of the Legal Aid Bill on immigration advice and management in the UK. It is a public meeting and all are welcome (space permitting). You will need to register in order to receive full details of the meeting by emailing Awale Olad at info@appgmigration.org.uk.