Community Legal Service (CLS) grant funding to the Advice Services Alliance (ASA), the Law Centres Federation (LCF) and the Royal Courts of Justice Citizens Advice Bureau will end on 31 March 2013 and will not be renewed. Last month, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) announced that it had decided to end the grants programme which, in the 2012/13 financial year, had a planned expenditure of £655,317 to the three organisations.

The decision comes after the publication of the LSC’s response to a consultation on the future of CLS grants. The consultation was published on 30 July 2012 and closed on 21 September 2012 (see September 2012 Legal Action 4).

‘Rather than just a cut to save cash there could well be a more insidious motive behind the MoJ’s decision, essentially to pull the rug from under ASA and LCF. The cuts to these charities will weaken the voice of the sector to speak up for frontline advice centres and, ultimately, the public, who are bearing the brunt of the government’s cuts to access to justice,’ said Steve Hynes, LAG’s director.