An alliance of groups opposed to the government’s family legal aid cuts has published a Manifesto for Family Justice, urging MPs to reconsider the proposals.
The groups are concerned about the impact that provisions in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill removing legal aid for private law family cases will have on women, children, families and victims of domestic violence.
They suggest that the change will cost more money than it saves and lead to poorer outcomes for the families involved.
The manifesto has been published by the Association of Lawyers for Children, the Bar Council, Co-ordinated Action Against Domestic Abuse, the children’s commissioner, the Family Law Bar Association (FLBA), single parents charity Gingerbread, Liberty, the National Federation of Women’s Institutes, family lawyers group Resolution and Women’s Aid.
It calls on the government to listen to the views of experienced family justice practitioners and to act to protect vulnerable children and domestic violence victims.
The document has been sent to all MPs, prior to the LASPO bill entering its report stage and third reading in the House of Commons on 31 October.
FLBA chair Stephen Cobb QC said: ‘We have come together as a broad cross-section of organisations deeply concerned by the consequences of the government’s proposals.
‘The prime minister stated that he wanted a family test for all domestic policy. Clearly nobody has applied that test to this bill. The civil legal aid cuts will be bad for children, bad for women and bad for families.’
Cobb said the cuts will create a ‘disturbing new landscape’ in which 600,000 people will no longer receive legal aid, 68,000 children will be affected by the removal of legal aid in family cases, 54,000 fewer people will be represented in the family courts annually and 75% of private family law cases will be left without legal aid.
The government’s proposals would increase the number of people going to court without legal representation, resulting in ‘DIY justice, not access to justice’.
Cobb said: ‘We face the very real prospect that many children and women who have been victims of domestic abuse will have to endure the further trauma of being cross-examined by their alleged perpetrator, who will not be eligible for legal aid.’
He added: ‘It is not too late for the government to change its approach. If it really has the interests of families in mind, then it has to think again.’
The manifesto can be read here.
No comments yet