Yes, it is that time again when shops bombard us with festive Muzak and we promise ourselves that this year we won’t leave all our shopping until Christmas Eve. As I pondered whether I will be organised enough to keep that promise, I was visited by the Ghost of Christmas Future with a vision of things to come. I was entering Santa’s grotto with my three excited children, expecting to walk out with yet another Julia Donaldson book. However, Santa gave me a sly wink and lifted his beard to reveal that he was in fact the lord chancellor. I knew this was a golden opportunity so quickly convinced the kids not to ask for anything Xbox- or slime-related. We adjusted their Christmas asks to reflect what legal aid lawyers need from the government. They were very compliant children.
Developing that theme here, I’ve decided to ruin a popular Christmas song to request 12 key things that government could gift wrap and stuff into the stockings of legal aid lawyers. You’re going to have to squint a bit to make this work as a carol, but feel free to stand outside Petty France and sing it with gusto during the festive period.
On the first day of Christmas, the LC gave to me …
… functioning IT. We know that CCMS (the client and cost management system) is on the way out. Apply is in ‘beta testing’ and we cross fingers and toes that the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has learnt its lesson. Criminal defence lawyers have had recent IT woes. Payment runs are sometimes delayed by IT glitches. The list goes on. Can we please have IT that actually makes the system more efficient? Isn’t that the point of IT?
On the second day of Christmas, the LC gave to me …
… a pilot on giving advice early. We have a chance to widen scope in a meaningful way. I bet you didn’t think we’d be saying that in the post-apocalyptic, sorry, post-Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) landscape. But if the MoJ doesn’t get the design and implementation of the pilot right, it will achieve nothing for those thousands of clients in desperate need of help.
On the third day of Christmas, the LC gave to me …
… a stable team at the Ministry. We are now due a general election on 12 December. There may be a new team at the MoJ. Constant changes at that level over the past few years have seriously hampered policy-making. This may seem remote from the front line, but changes in the ministers responsible for legal aid really do make a difference.
On the fourth day of Christmas, the LC gave to me …
… a means test review with teeth. Contributions, capital, thresholds, allowances, passporting, disregards, evidence. They all need to change to make the means test anything approaching fair.
On the fifth day of Christmas, the LC gave to me …
On the sixth day of Christmas, the LC gave to me …
… auditing done proportionately. Many LAPG members tell us that auditing is too onerous and they would like more transparency from the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) over how audits and other forms of scrutiny are triggered. That seems like a very fair ask.
On the seventh day of Christmas, the LC gave to me …
… fair decision-making. As I write, over 300 legal aid lawyers have completed our survey on LAA decision-making. We have conducted the survey because we receive so many reports that raise doubts about the quality, consistency, timeliness, legality and fairness of decisions over funding and costs assessment.
On the eighth day of Christmas, the LC gave to me …
… legal aid and inquest equality. Equality of arms; state bodies with unlimited legal resources; a traumatic, stressful and complex legal process. How is this difficult for the government to understand?
On the ninth day of Christmas, the LC gave to me …
… a functioning ECF scheme. Applications and awards of exceptional case funding are up (bravo Public Law Project et al), and the government has committed to making the scheme more accessible. But surely a scheme designed to ensure legal aid is granted to avoid a breach of fundamental rights is a misnomer? If we are talking fundamental rights, shouldn’t these cases be in scope?
On the tenth day of Christmas, the LC gave to me …
… a reduction in bureaucracy. The scheme is complex, the administration burdensome. There are some very good initiatives coming through the LAA’s process efficiency team. Please sir, can we have some more?
On the eleventh day of Christmas, the LC gave to me …
… sensible funding policy. Here’s a thought: we are seeing unprecedented levels of litigants in person, so rather than plough millions more into non-legal support at court, how about we restore legal aid to ensure people are represented? There might even be less litigation and fewer problems in court when it is unavoidable.
On the twelfth day of Christmas, the LC gave to me …
… an increase in legal aid fees. This is not mentioned in the
LASPO review. It is not on the (current) government’s radar. But we will continue to bang the drum. The fees are too low. That impacts on every element of legal aid practice. Fees don’t cover the cost of delivering a quality service to vulnerable clients. We need higher fees. Have I made my point?