.
Birmingham Law Centre® closed down in June because of the impact of legal aid and other government cuts. Julie Bishop, director of the Law Centres Network, told Legal Action that the Law Centre’s cashflow problems had forced its board of trustees to call in the receivers. The Law Centre’s board ‘knew future billings would be lower due to reduced legal aid contracts’, and ‘although there were decent plans afoot to bring in other income’ the trustees decided that they did not want to risk trading while insolvent, said Julie Bishop.
Birmingham Law Centre received around £160,000 income from legal aid until the changes in scope were introduced under the LASPO Act in April. In February, Peter Lowen, the Law Centre’s chief executive, told Legal Action that while the centre’s legal aid income was set to reduce by one-half, he hoped to implement a restructuring plan if cash could be found to keep the service running while this was introduced. Birmingham City Council was approached by the Law Centre for help, but was unable to offer a grant.
The Law Centre, which employed four solicitors, eight caseworkers and three support workers, had in recent years experienced severe financial pressures. Last year, the centre lost a grant of £156,825 to provide advice in family centres under the government’s Sure Start initiative. In September 2012, Tyndallwoods, a large firm of solicitors, closed its office in Birmingham city centre after it took the decision to pull out of legal aid work because of cuts in fees.
Individuals, advisers, organisations and practitioners are invited to submit their accounts of the impact of the LASPO Act, particularly on people who are socially, economically or otherwise disadvantaged, for publication in this column. Submissions of up to 500 words will be published in full and, on request, anonymised. E-mail:
vwilliams@lag.org.uk using the message title ‘Legal aid cuts impact statement’.