2 Access to civil legal aid after
the reforms
9. The Ministry stated in its 2012 impact assessment
that it was working with the Agency to "ensure that they
have robust mechanisms in place to identify any developing market
shortfall".[19]
The Agency monitors supply by the number of contracts that it
awards, but as part of the reforms it removed the contractual
requirement for providers to do a minimum amount of work. This
means that awarding contracts does not guarantee that there will
be sufficient supply of civil legal aid. There are 14 local authority
areas where no face-to-face legal aid cases started in 2013-14
and in a further 39 areas there were between 1 and 49 cases. 12%
of law firms that held legal aid contracts did not undertake any
legal aid work in 2013-14.[20]
The Ministry also spent significantly less than forecast in some
areas of law, for example 86% less in debt advice.[21]
10. While some variation in the provision of legal
aid might be expected, for example between more and less affluent
areas, it is important that the Ministry knows how much of the
variation is due to differences in demand and how much, if any,
is due to lack of supply. We asked the Agency whether it was confident
that all those who are eligible for civil legal aid are able to
access it. The Agency told us that this "is not a knowable
fact".[22] Following
the session, we received evidence from a legal aid provider who
specialises in mental health law. He told us that because of the
way the Agency manages legal aid contracts, he had to turn away
people who are eligible for legal aid.[23]
We questioned the Agency about the variation in provision of civil
legal aid, and it agreed that it should do further work to improve
its understanding of this.[24]
11. Following the evidence session, the Ministry
told us that it considers that the variation can be explained
by the fact that most of the 14 areas in which no face-to-face
legal aid work was done have small populations or low levels of
deprivation, are situated close to other local authority areas
in which large legal aid providers are located, and had low volumes
of legal aid work before the reforms. However, the Ministry still
does not know whether people in these areas are able to access
face-to-face legal aid. The Ministry also made a commitment to
complete three surveys to improve its understanding of the legal
aid market and the way people access legal aid. The Ministry told
us the results will be published by autumn 2015.[25]
12. We heard from the Magistrates' Association that
some people have difficulties with the court forms and processes
involved in family law matters. For example, the application form
for a case involving contact with children is 24 pages long, and
the guidance document for that form is 32 pages long. The Magistrates'
Association told us that this complexity may prevent people from
accessing support to maintain a relationship with their children.[26]
13. The Ministry is responsible for the operation
of an exceptional case funding scheme, which is intended to provide
legal aid for people whose human rights would be breached if they
did not receive it. Respondents to the National Audit Office's
consultation with civil legal aid providers said that the exceptional
case funding scheme may be inaccessible for many people. They
argued that although people are permitted to submit applications
without assistance from a lawyer, the complexity of the forms
meant that most individuals would not be able to complete them.
In addition, lawyers who complete applications are only paid for
this if the application is successful, and there is little incentive
for lawyers to do this given the low rate of approvals.[27]
14. The Ministry expected to receive between 5,000
and 7,000 applications for the scheme, but received only 1,520
in the first year after the reforms and granted just 69. We asked
the Ministry to explain this, and it responded that it was not
possible to predict the number of applications it would receive,
as the scheme was new and its use would be based on the demand
from people who had been taken out of scope of legal aid.[28]
19 Ministry of Justice, Impact assessment: Legal
aid reform in England and Wales, cumulative legal aid reforms,
13 July 2012, p.17 (link to .zip file) Back
20
Qq 99, 100, 133 Back
21
Q 166 Back
22
Q 111 Back
23
Letter from John O'Donnell LLB to Chair, Committee of Public Accounts Back
24
Qq 115, 125 Back
25
Letter from the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, to the
Chair, Committee of Public Accounts, 12 December 2014 Back
26
Qq 7-9 Back
27
C&AG's Report, para 3.7 Back
28
Qq 141-147 Back
|
