Law Centres Network

The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act 2012 introduced massive cuts to civil legal aid and shaped the current legal aid setting in England and Wales. It came into effect in April 2013 and five years afterwards the Ministry of Justice has launched a Post-Implementation Review (PIR) of the Act. 

The LASPO review accepted evidence between March and September 2018. We have engaged with it in several ways, meeting the justice minister and her officials conducting the review several times, presenting workshops, hosting a visit to a Law Centre and taking part in the official consultative panels for stakeholders. 

Coming at the end of this period, our written submission to the review did not attempt to repeat arguments already made. Instead, it focused on presenting new evidence, arguments and analysis.  

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has consulted on changes to its code of conduct, the SRA Handbook. As legal practices that employ solicitors, Law Centres would be affected by any changes and have sought to contribute to the consultation with this response. 

In early 2017, the Legal Aid Agency consulted on changes to the way people claiming income-related benefits are 'passported' onto legal aid, meaning that no separate means-testing is required when they need legal aid. A key proposal was to remove passporting for all claimants receiving any income from work, even if this work is within what DWP permits them.

In early 2017 the Legal Aid Agency consulted on changes to the Housing Possession Court Duty Scheme (HPCDS), which helps people defend possession proceedings and avoid evictions. Two main proposals were introducing a price-competitive tender (while other legal aid services are tendered at fixed fees) and a drastic reduction to the number of schemes, leaving much fewer, larger schemes. 

The Ministry of Justice has consulted on changes to tribunals, coinciding with its plans to digitise the entire courts and tribunals system. This response, to the consultation titled 'Transforming Our Justice System', deals with two proposals: firstly, to remove Non-Legal Members from tribunal panels; and secondly, to make tribunal hearings digital by default, relying on various means of assistance to support the access of appellants who are unable to do so on their own. 

The Bach Commission, led by former legal aid minister Lord Willy Bach, is a Labour Party commission, supported by the Fabian Society. It was set up three years after the coalition government's cuts to civil legal aid, to examine the best way to provide access to justice to at least a basic guaranteed standard for all. Here is our submission to the commission. 

This relates to those seeking to qualify as solicitors. LCN responded to encourage new and more flexible assessment mechanisms and a clearer framework of the qualification pathways.

 This is a discussion on the distinguishing levels of disciplinary responses to solicitor actions plus SRA staff training on evaluation in that area. LCN submitted a short response, including recommendations that SRA ensure a consistency of approach in responding to client harm and an understanding of the complexity of casework undertaken by those who work with vulnerable clients.

Discrimination specialists from across Law Centres have drawn up evidence to this important House of Lords committee inquiry. Based on this, we were invited to give oral evidence to the committee, followed by several additional written submissions (at the end of the document below). The committee has referred to our evidence at numerous points throughout its final report. 

The Legal Services Board, which is the oversight regulator for legal services, consulted on unnecessary 'red tape' in the regulation of in-house lawyers. LCN has responded as Law Centre solicitors have been regulated as if they were in-house solicitors. 

From early April to to early June 2013, the Ministry of Justice has been consulting on a raft of proposals for driving down the cost of legal aid by cutting various elements of the current service and comprehensively overhauling the way criminal legal aid is procured. 

Below is the Law Centres Network's main response to the consultation. We are also represented in some joint frameworks which are submitting their own replies, such as the JustRights campaign for children and young people's access to justice, and the Equality and Diversity Forum. 

JustRights is a joint campaign for access to justice for children and young people, which LCN co-chairs together with YouthAccess. JustRights have submitted a consultation response focussing on the impact of proposals for children and young people. 

The Law Centres Network has joined several advice organisations - Shelter, Young Legal Aid Lawyers, Legal Aid Practitioners Group and others - in a briefing condemning new proposals for further cuts to legal aid. 

In spring 2013, the Civil Mediation Council held a consultation on its role within the burgeoning field of mediation. The consultation focused on the CMC's potential role in introducing a system of professional standards and accreditation for mediators. Here is LCN's response to the consultation.