UK taxpayers will
pay cost of government's legal aid cuts
As the government's proposed
350 million legal aid cuts return to be debated in the House
of Lords, an independent report from one of Britain's leading
universities reveals how these changes will incur new costs for the
taxpayer by simply shifting the burden onto other parts of the
public purse, such as the NHS.
The King's College London (KCL)
report, Unintended Consequences: the cost of the Government's Legal
Aid Reforms, shows that the cuts proposed in the Legal Aid,
Sentencing & Punishment of Offenders Bill will give rise to
unbudgeted costs of at least 139 million, undermining Lord
Chancellor Ken Clarke's contribution to the Government's
deficit reduction target.
By substantially reducing the
scope of Legal Aid in three main areas alone: family law, social
welfare and clinical negligence, the Ministry of Justice claims
expected savings of 240 million. The KCL report estimates
the costs, to this and other Government Departments, to exceed
139 million - which would wipe out almost 60% of the
claimed savings.
The report author, respected academic Dr Graham Cookson said:
'This research undermines the Government's economic rationale for
changing the scope of legal aid by casting doubt on their claims of
realising savings to the public purse.'
'Without a trial, it is
impossible to say for certain what the impact of the proposals will
be, just as it is impossible for the Government to assert that
there will be a net saving of 270 million per annum.
Desmond Hudson, CEO of the Law Society said: “The Ministry of
Justice has defended swingeing cuts to Legal Aid in civil cases,
which will deny justice to thousands, on its need to contribute
savings to the Government's deficit reduction programme. The Law
Society accepts the need to achieve savings, but this report
confirms that much of the Ministry of Justice's claimed savings are
being achieved at the expense of other parts of
Government.
This is kamikaze accounting and
will do little to tackle the deficit while sacrificing access to
justice. Should we be promoting our justice system internationally
while denying access to ordinary citizens?”
“The Law Society has a set of alternative proposals for
meeting the Ministry's deficit reduction target which, while not
without pain, would preserve access to justice in most cases. It is
time for the Government to work with the Law Society and other
groups to radically reshape this Bill.”
For further information, contact
Rebecca Kiernan, Law Society press office on 020 7316
5592
Sound Off For Justice is a
public campaign promoting alternative reforms to Legal Aid.
Visitwww.soundoffforjustice.orgfor more details.
The King's College London
report, Unintended Consequences: the cost of the Government's Legal
Aid Reforms, was commissioned by the Law Society, in response to
the Ministry of Justice's own reluctance to publish estimates of
the knock-on costs to the public purse of its proposed changes to
legal aid policy.
The report uses publically
available data including from the Civil and Social Justice Survey
and the Legal Services Commission to identify the potential impact
of proposed changes to the scope of legal aid contained in the
Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders, currently before
Parliament.
The report applied cautious
estimates - and explains that because lack of data prevented
many costs being quantified the forecast is 'likely to be a
substantial underestimate of the true costs.'
Read the full report here.