Leadership contenders should be quizzed about legal aid

Tonight there will be an on-line hustings. I am not talking about the current "beauty contest on the Titanic", heavily featured on BBC TV, to select the next leader of the Conservative party* and, therefore, short of a successful Commons vote of "no confidence", our next prime minister.

No, I refer to the leadership of the Liberal Democrats, which party is, if current opinion research is to be believed, going to be at least pivotal after the next general election. I have not registered for the on-line stuff but intend to download the report later. One hopes that someone asks the question about the savage cuts to civil legal aid which were made under the coalition and what the candidates propose to do to reverse them. Perhaps if I can get over this current debilitating chest infection in time I can get up to Llandrindod Wells, where there is to be a live hustings, to put the question in person.

TA Law in Swansea is just the latest social welfare law firm to give up in the face of mounting costs and the savage cuts to fee income resulting from "the government removing vast swaths of social welfare law from the scope of legal aid in 2013" (Law Society Gazette). Helen Williams, the firm's managing director said

the firm endeavoured to fight the cuts and stay in business. It tried to diversify into private work. 'The problem we have is our clients, by their very nature, tend to be tenants or on housing benefits, or disabled, so they do not have access to private funds.' Pre-LASPO, the firm had around 100 staff. When LASPO came in, the firm had to restructure, relocate and make redundancies, going down to about 30 staff. Williams said the warning signs about the firm's future came quickly. 'Our staff are really committed and work very hard, but they have bills to pay. When expenditure continues to increase, yet fee income continues to go down, that's not really going to end well.'

The firm had a Civil Legal Advice contract for housing and debt. Initially work was paid on an hourly rate, which then changed to a maximum case cost fee, followed by the recent introduction of an upper and lower fixed-fee system, which has had a negative impact, Williams said.

Those providing face-to-face housing and debt work can claim an 'escape' fee. However, Williams said the agency refuses to introduce an escape fee for welfare benefits cases. 'You might do £3,000 worth of work but can only claim £208,' she said.

TA Law lost three members of its litigation team in close succession - one before Christmas and two in February. The firm tried to replace two 'but we cannot compete with the salaries of big corporate firms', Williams said. The firm has given notice to the Legal Aid Agency. It currently has 800 live cases and has asked to stop taking new clients in May.

As far as Williams understands, in relation to welfare benefits, TA Law is one of two firms covering Wales and the south west. She said she despaired at the loss of yet another social welfare law service to the wider community 'which I fear will cause far larger numbers of defenceless victims. I suspect though, as usual, no one is listening or cares'.

In February the Ministry of Justice published its review of LASPO's impact, and an action plan focused on trying to resolve legal problems earlier.

Williams said: 'We have always been a big supporter of preventative advice. You can save someone's home for £120, which is better than a costly court case which can run into the thousands. The government realises now, years down the line, perhaps we should have some preventative advice - it's so frustrating as we've been saying that since 2011.

'It's not just about the financial cost savings. As social welfare lawyers we have seen the human cost. Families in crisis, about to be made homeless - nine times out of 10 they have got other debts they're trying to manage. If you're able to go in early and avoid possession proceedings, and try to manage their debt, get some disability benefit paid (quite often, for instance, they go back to work), it avoids a downward spiral.'

Legal aid for welfare benefits has plummeted over a decade. There were 135,751 legal help matter starts and 51 civil representation granted certificates in 2008-09. These figures fell to 443 legal help matter starts and nine civil representation granted certificates in 2017-18.

Students are helping to fill the gap, just as they have over possible miscarriages of justice and cold cases. But how many people can access the University of South Wales service, which in any case has a six-month waiting list?

Now Private Eye magazine reveals the appalling anomaly that a PR firm received a fifth of a million quid for media-related work in respect of the Birmingham pub bombings inquest, "substantially more than  the combined costs of the two main legal teams representing the families of the 21 victims". The government needs to get its priorities right.

* One can imagine at least the leading contender dismissing reports of victims of the WCA dying for lack of legal support as "fake news" and living complainants as "wallowing in their victim status".