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Campaigning for ‘justice for all’
Posted Wednesday 12 January 2011
Today, charity campaigners, lawyers, advisers, and members of the public will descend on parliament in a mass lobby of MPs. They will be united in outrage at the coalition Government’s proposals to radically reform the Legal Aid system.
By ‘reform’, I mean cut – cut the budget and cut off access. The plans to reduce the budget by £350 million will lead over half a million people to lose out on advice, according to the Government’s own figures.
That will certainly include a considerable proportion of people with experience of mental distress.
Access to free legal advice and representation is hugely important for people with experience of mental distress, who are one of the most disadvantaged and stigmatised groups in society. People rely on legal aid for help with debt, employment, housing and welfare benefits issues, as well as discrimination and mental health detention cases. The Government’s proposals threaten this essential legal safety net.
To achieve the so-called ‘savings’ of £350 million, the Government’s proposals severely restrict both what advice legal aid will fund and who can get it, although discrimination and mental health detention cases are protected.
As it is, legal aid is only available for people on low incomes and with very few assets, but under the reforms these people will have to pay more towards their legal costs. People are likely to fall through the gap between being ineligible for full legal aid, but unable to afford the high costs of advice from a private solicitor.
On top of this, the green paper proposes cutting legal aid funding for advice on debt, education, employment, housing, family, immigration, welfare benefits and some other areas. This is highly worrying, given people with mental health problems are three times more likely to be in debt and make up around 45 per cent of people on incapacity benefits.
Ending legal aid for all welfare benefits cases, including appeals to decisions for sickness benefits, at the same time as radically reforming the benefits system seems to me a particularly rash decision, given 40 per cent of appealed ‘fit for work’ decisions for Employment Support Allowance are successfully overturned at present, even before the welfare reforms come in.
It’s likely many of these appeals rely on some legal aid funding, so without this, people who are unfit for work will be left unable to challenge an erroneous benefits assessment and may be forced back to work prematurely.
To my mind, there’s no doubt these reforms would severely damage access to justice. As Mind’s Another assault research has found, people with experience of mental distress already face numerous barriers in accessing the justice system. Cuts to legal aid will only make matters worse.
That’s why Mind has joined Justice for All, a coalition of charities, legal and advice agencies, politicians, trade unions, community groups and members of the public, all campaigning to protect legal aid.
We need to stand together to call on the Government to rethink their proposals.
You can help by writing to your MP, asking them to sign the EDM 1194 (early day motion) and put pressure on Government Ministers to ensure any reform of legal aid does not damage access to justice still further, particularly for those most vulnerable in our society.
Amy Whitelock, Senior Policy and Campaigns Officer
4 Comments
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will Mind's lawyers also be backing the legal challenge to the European court over DLA axing as being discriminatory?
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We are actively campaigning around DLA. We are supporting other charities who are leading on pressuring the Government to reverse its decision on ending DLA mobility payments for those in care, as in this report: http://www.mencap.org.uk/news.asp?id=20623&pageno=&year=&menuId=90 . We are also running a survey (http://www.mind.org.uk/campaigns_and_issues/policy_and_issues/making_benefits_fairer-welfare_reform/take_action/dla_reform ) to inform and strengthen our response to the Government’s consultation and have been meeting with Ministers about the proposed changes. Our key concerns are that the 20% cut in the future budget of DLA will lead to many people with mental health problems who are claiming lower rate DLA losing out on vital support; and that the new assessment of eligibility may struggle to recognise mental health, as with the WCA.
Our legal team has also met with other charities to discuss the potential for legal challenges to the Government’s welfare proposals. We will continue to consider this option and would encourage people to tell us about their experience of benefits and welfare (http://www.mind.org.uk/campaigns_and_issues/policy_and_issues/making_benefits_fairer-welfare_reform/take_action/tell_us_you) in order to help us strengthen our evidence base. However, we are not aware of a current legal challenge around DLA and would be grateful for any further information you can provide, please email contact@mind.org.uk.
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Well said Amy. Great piece.
My own personal experience of support from Law for All, the largest social justice firm in the UK, was a life saver. I'd attempted suicide because of my debts. I was in a total state and was virtually homeless.
Thankfully the solicitor at Law for All was amazing. She was totally impartial and explained all my options. She knew the law in and out and was totally up to date. Best of all, she treated me like a human being.
I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't got their help. I was in a total mess.
Best of luck with the campaign. It's really important. I think a lot of people don't realise just how important a fair justice system is and how civil legal aid is an essential part.
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Thanks for your comment Arj and for sharing your story. This really hits the nail on head in terms of how important legal aid can be for people with experience of mental distress. Could we include your experience (anonymised of course) as a case study in our consultation response to Government? It makes a really powerful example to support our arguments.
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