No retreat on legal aid cuts and Jackson reforms

The government is making few concessions on its legal aid cuts and implementation of the Jackson reforms, an advance copy of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill seen by Solicitors Journal has indicated.

A draft of the bill appeared on a government website this morning, apparently in error, before justice secretary Ken Clarke introduces the bill to the Commons later this afternoon.

The following categories of work are specifically excluded from the civil legal aid scheme under a schedule to the bill: personal injury, negligence and welfare benefits advice. Education law, where it involves children with special educational needs, has been spared.

The proposal that all civil legal advice should be channelled through a phone and/or internet service is specifically enshrined in the bill, which makes it clear that the Lord Chancellor is under no duty to provide a choice of provider.

The government's whole-hearted backing of the Jackson recommendations is reflected in sections 41 and 42 of the bill.

These abolish the recoverability of conditional fee success fees and ATE insurance premiums. In the case of insurance premiums, ministers have offered a minor concession in excluding medical negligence cases.

A further, and anticipated, concession comes in the definition of domestic violence. The bill abolishes legal aid for most private law family cases, but not for victims of domestic violence '“ and this includes both mental and physical abuse.

As expected, the LSC is abolished and absorbed into the Ministry of Justice.

The following civil legal aid services are specifically protected:

Child protection

Cases involving children with special educational needs

Mental health

Community care

Child abduction

Cases involving domestic violence

Forced marriages

Judicial reviews

Immigration (detention and asylum)

Eviction and homelessness