Bureaucracy and reduced provider numbers are threatening legal help take-up

The take-up of legal help cases in social welfare law (SWL) for the first quarter of this year (2013/14) has been much smaller than the government predicted, according to a new report.

'Civil Legal Aid- the Secret Legal Service', published by the Legal Action Group (LAG) last week, is based on figures published by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) after the introduction of the legal aid scope cuts from April, under the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act.

Previous figures released by LAG show that the number of civil legal aid cases has been in decline over recent years. It is in the SWL that the biggest falls have occurred. From just under half a million cases at their peak in 2009-10 the number of SWL cases had dropped to 293,319 last year, according to Legal Aid Statistics in England and Wales 2012-2013.

This trend has been of concern as it is contrary to other evidence, outlined in the report, showing a rising demand for advice. The figures for the first quarter of the current year show an even more pronounced reduction.

Far fewer legal help cases in debt, education, discrimination, housing and welfare benefits have been reported than predicted by the government. Using the LAA figures for the predicted and actual numbers of cases, LAG calculated the percentage shortfall in cases. In all 3,866 fewer people than expected received civil legal aid, a total shortfall of 52 per cent.

The shortfalls do vary between the different categories of law, with the lowest being in education law at 12 per cent and the highest being in discrimination law at ?77 per cent.

Bureaux decimated

Legal aid is still available for people in danger of losing their homes, homelessness cases and for some disrepair matters. Such cases can be covered by the debt category, if a client is at risk of losing their home due to money problems. Debt legal aid contracts were mainly concentrated among advice charities such as Citizens Advice Bureaux. These have seen the biggest reduction in the number of legal aid contract holders. According to national charity Citizens Advice, there are now only just over 30 of its bureaux with legal aid contracts, down from a total of over 160 before the cuts were imposed in April.

Many practitioners have told LAG they believe that there is a problem over the identification of clients who are eligible for legal aid as the rules are so complex. Management consultant Vicky Ling says the Legal Aid Agency is now "so draconian in their audits that practitioners fear applying for legal aid unless they are absolutely certain it will fall within the rules."

One reason for the low take-up for debt, education and discrimination cases could be the compulsory telephone gateway for these categories of law. The solicitors firm Howells LLP won one of the contracts for Community Legal Advice (CLA), the telephone gateway service. Pam Kenworthy, legal director at the firm, believes that both lawyers and the public need to get the message that employment law discrimination cases are still covered by legal aid. "The CLA providers would obviously like the Ministry of Justice to consider raising the profile of the service with stakeholders, as it seems daft to have a service that no one knows about," she says.

LAG believes the reduced take-up of civil legal aid has been caused by a combination of factors, dwindling numbers of legal aid providers, increased bureaucratic hurdles before legal aid is granted and a low profile caused by lack of marketing and a public perception, due to the negative publicity around civil legal aid cuts, that legal aid is no longer available for civil cases. Increasingly the government is in danger of presiding over a secret legal service and if nothing is done to increase the take-up of civil legal aid, it will wither away, as the lack of use will be used to justify its loss. Of course, this might be what the government really wants to happen. SJ