Peers pass three motions of regret over legal aid cuts

The House of Lords has passed three motions of regret over LASPO, highlighting the impact of the cuts on disabled people, domestic violence victims and welfare claimants.

Baroness Grey-Thompson's motion regretted that the new civil legal aid regulations would "fail to deliver sufficiently wide access to legal aid for disabled persons".

It also said that the category of 'exempted person' was defined too narrowly under the regulations.

Baroness Grey-Thompson, a crossbencher, told peers yesterday that given the "massive changes", she was concerned that disabled people would "even get as far as" the telephone gateway. "People with complex issues could find themselves being directed to a face-to-face for one part of their problem, a phone gateway for another one, then passed to the second tier, which could then direct them back for a face-to-face-and if you want benefit advice as well, good luck to you.

"Can the minister clarify that the best way for a person to find out if they are exempt from the gateway, if they do not have access to the internet or may struggle to follow the guidelines issued by some of the charities, is to call the gateway, the one thing they know they have problems with?"

Baroness Grey-Thompson concluded: "We could be in danger of not providing people with the help they need.

"These are some of the most vulnerable people in society and they will not even get to the first phone call. Instead of making the system easier, we could just be pushing the costs somewhere else and making the lives of disabled people infinitely harder."

The baroness's motion was carried by 163 votes to 148.

Baroness Scotland, the former Attorney General, tabled a motion of regret that the new legal aid regulations would "fail to deliver" on the government's promise to provide adequate legal aid provision for victims of domestic violence and "significant numbers of victims" would be unable to satisfy the new evidence criteria.

She said people needed to be "very clear indeed that regulation 33 of the Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) Regulations 2012 is now to be the gateway through which the victims of domestic violence must pass if they wish to receive legal aid, but it is a very narrow and treacherous gate.

"It will exclude many victims who have hitherto benefited from the legal support and assistance necessary to free themselves and often their children from the worst excesses of domestic violence."

Baroness Scotland's motion was carried by 156 votes to 140.

Earlier Lord Bach, the Labour peer and former justice minister, tabled a third motion of regret, on legal aid for welfare benefits advice at first tier tribunals, where a point of law arises.

Lord Bach said the government had agreed to this, but then decided to bring forward a minor concession offering help to a much smaller group of people only on 'errors of law'. The concession was voted down by peers early this year, but nothing else was forthcoming.

Lord Bach's motion was carried by 166 votes to 161.

Nicola Mackintosh, co-chair of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group, commented: "This is the strongest possible message from the House of Lords that some disabled and other vulnerable people will be denied justice and legal advice because of the government's plans to reform legal aid.

"Using the phone and internet may be convenient ways of communicating for some, but not all people. There are some who cannot use the phone to explain their legal problem and need to see an adviser face to face.

"The government has not considered this small but very important group of people and how they will be prevented from accessing advice."