Crisis in legal aid leaves more than 50% of asylum seekers unable to secure legal representation
Migrants Organise, the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI), and over 60 other organisations published a joint briefing last week highlighting the current crisis within the civil legal aid system and calling for urgent reforms to immigration legal aid.
Image credit: UK GovernmentThe 9-page briefing can be downloaded here.
The briefing explains how the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) drastically reduced eligibility for legal aid, leaving large numbers of people across the UK without adequate legal support.
Migrants Organise, JCWI, and the other organisations said: "Over 50% of people seeking asylum are now unable to find a legal aid lawyer, and this number continues to grow as the backlog of people in the asylum system increases. We have seen a 330% rise in asylum appeals compared to last year, due in part to woefully poor asylum decision-making by the previous administration. Tribunals now face unmanageable backlogs. Many people who have the right to legal aid are being forced to go to appeal without any legal advice at all, which is only costing the government more money."
Legal aid practitioners are increasingly finding their work unsustainable, as civil legal aid rates have remained stagnant since 1996, making it nearly impossible to continue providing services.
The briefing explains: "Put simply – doing legal aid loses money for providers. 'Fixed fees' for certain cases make it near impossible to be paid for the entirety of the work required to resolve someone's problem and act as an unnecessary barrier to providing high-quality legal representation. The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) often takes a punitive approach to management of the system, with high administrative demands that require a huge amount of unpaid work from advisors. These demands have been cited by advisors as a reason for leaving the legal aid sector."
Several recommendations are made by Migrants Organise and the other organisations to address the legal aid crisis. They call for restoring the scope of legal aid to its pre-2012 levels, particularly to cover non-asylum immigration cases, and adjusting financial eligibility criteria so that those who cannot afford to pay for legal assistance can access it.
To tackle the issue of "legal aid deserts," where no providers are available, the briefing recommends offering grants to encourage legal aid providers to remain in under-served areas. It also suggests introducing more traineeships and apprenticeships to allow new immigration lawyers to enter the sector.
The briefing also stresses the need for fair pay and improved conditions for legal aid practitioners, advocating for an immediate increase in the rates of pay and the abolition of fixed fees in favour of hourly rates.
Finally, the organisations urge the Government to work across departments to address systemic issues. This includes consulting legal aid professionals before implementing policy changes, ending the 'hostile environment' policy towards migrants, and ceasing hostile rhetoric against migrant communities and those supporting them, including legal representatives.