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Lord Low sets out vision for social welfare law reform to MPs
Access to justice has been damaged by the loss of much preventative advice in the wake of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, Lord Low said during evidence to the Justice Select Committee. Lord Low (pictured), who chaired the independent commission into the future of social welfare law advice which bears his name, said that rather than access to justice being dependent on the single funding mechanism of legal aid, it should be seen as a continuum, ranging from public legal education and information, to generalist and specialist advice, legal help and representation.
He outlined the commission’s proposals for filling the gap through an alternative funding strategy, and added that it was helpful for these proposals to be developed, at least initially, independently from government, political parties and advice providers.
The committee asked how realistic the commission’s funding proposals were and how they differed from the old legal aid system. Lord Low explained that it proposed a National Advice and Legal Support Fund, underpinned by a longterm governmental strategy, with advice being commissioned and delivered locally. Such a fund could not be brought in overnight, Lord Low added. However, a starting point could be to roll forward some of the Advice Services Transition Fund, which receives money from both the Big Lottery Fund and the Cabinet Office. He suggested that funds being provided by the Ministry of Justice for pro bono court-based advice schemes could be brought together with lottery-based funding to provide services more efficiently and cost-effectively. As resources allow, local authorities could start commissioning local advice and legal support plans.
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Doreen Lawrence and Imran Khan (pictured, above, at the 2012 Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year awards with Michael Mansfield QC and Legal Aid Practitioners Group director Carol Storer) will be ‘in conversation’ with
Legal Action editor Fiona Bawdon at LAG’s lecture event on 12 February 2015. Tickets will be available from LAG early in the new year. For more information, contact:
nmoorthy@lag.org.uk.