Sound Off For Justice

Last updated: 21 June 2011

Ever since the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) published proposals to make savings amounting to £350m from the legal aid budget, we've been campaigning to persuade the government and the MoJ to think again.

We believe that the cuts proposed threaten the very principle of access to justice and that we can find the £350m the MoJ needs to save – and more – without resorting to taking whole areas of law out of legal aid provision. The suggested cuts will cost the government and the tax payer more than they will save and will have a severe impact on society.

Take action - find out how you can help

Legal aid and sentencing bill: Law Society response

The Law Society has published its interim report in response to the first reading of Ken Clarke's new justice bill.
Read our interim report (PDF)
Video: Desmond Hudson vows to continue to fight the proposals and issues a rallying cry to the profession

Our alternative savings: a fairer way forward

We recognise that in the current economic climate, savings and efficiencies need to be made but we don't agree that the way to achieve it is to cut legal aid from up to 725,000 cases a year. We have shown that alternative savings of £384m (£34m in excess of those being sought) can be achieved while still protecting access to justice. Our savings protect the continued provision of legal aid for the neediest in society, while the MoJ proposals would remove the right to legal aid that supported the families affected by the Hillsborough disaster, the Thalidomide scandal, and the Clapham rail crash. Our proposals will:

• save £384m from the legal aid budget without removing areas of support
• increase productivity in courts
• lead to more efficient prosecutions
• make better use of technology
• apply penalties for wasting court time
• limit earnings and travel expenses
• make the financial sector pay for its own fraud cases

Read our alternative proposals

Act now to ensure the government listens: how you can help

There are several ways that you can help us persuade the government to think again:

1. Sign our petition.
2. Visit or write to your MP and submit evidence to the bill committee
3. Tell a friend - follow us on Twitter or Facebook and help spread the word.
4. Provide us with case studies - we need examples of how legal aid has helped your clients - please contact our media team.
5. Send us your firm's logo - we will add it to the website to demonstrate your support.
6. Our toolkit will help you promote the campaign. It includes posters, digital pin badges and flyers.

Read about one firm's lobbying success

The true cost of the government's proposed cuts

The government's destructive cuts:

• will save £350m but cost the taxpayer much more - cutting legal aid is a false economy
• will bring additional costs to government departments and local MPs, who can expect more hardship and legal problems in their constituencies
• leave families, the unemployed, the elderly and infirm with no access to justice
• remove legal support in cases of clinical negligence, welfare and employment
• will leave 725,000 victims without justice each year
• reduce social cohesion, increase criminality and silence the vulnerable
• abandon the principle that everyone is equal in the eyes of the law

Support from the Select Committee

The Law Society has welcomed the conclusion of the recent Justice Select Committee that the government's proposals for cutting the legal aid budget need 'considerable further refinement' and that the Ministry should assess the merits of the alternative cost-saving proposals put forward by us. As the Select Committee stated:

'... It has been put to us that the removal from scope of many areas of social welfare law will lead to significant costs to the public purse as a result of increased burdens on, for example, health and housing services. We are surprised that the government is proposing to make such changes without assessing their likely impact on spending from the public purse and we call on them to do so before taking a final decision on implementation.'

'…we recommend that the government assesses the merits of the cost-saving proposals put forward by the Law Society… we hope that the government will now turn its mind to addressing some of the long term cost drivers of legal aid, not least with a view to reducing the extent of some of the limitations to scope proposed in the consultation paper.'

Help us protect justice and the rule of law

Most of us entered the legal profession out of a passionate belief in justice and the rule of law. For many of us, our careers took us in a different direction, but we haven't lost that passion for justice. This is a chance for the whole profession to come together and shout out with one voice that we won't let justice in this country be watered down.

www.soundoffforjustice.org