Legal aid cuts put vulnerable women and children in danger

   Chris Grayling MP with Malcolm Sharpe

MEMBERS of the Liverpool & Preston Family Law Bar Association (FLBA) have expressed concern over the Legal Service Commission’s proposed restructuring of funding for family lawyers  In a view restated nationally by the Chair of the FLBA they say that what amounts to cuts in the legal aid budget will put vulnerable women and children at grave risk.

At a recent meeting with Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling MP the FLBA renewed their concerns that the quality of advice in child protection cases will be affected if further cuts are made to family legal aid.

Together with colleagues from across the city Atlantic Chambers Malcolm Sharpe, the Head of the Chambers’ Family Law Group and who is also the Chair of the regional FLBA, told Mr Grayling that the initial impact of the proposed plans would be to drastically reduce the opportunities for parties in the most difficult and complex of cases to have the benefit of experienced and specialist barristers  In the longer term the effect would be to drive talented and dedicated lawyers out of the Family Justice system and so worsen the position of vulnerable families who would be least able to compete with the greater resources available to Local Authorities.

The meeting with Mr Grayling was organised following an FLBA meeting in London that was video linked to 12 satellite centres - including Liverpool.

The Liverpool link-up was organised by Mr Sharpe who was joined by fellow Atlantic Chambers barristers Samantha Hillas, Christine Johnson and Ruth Howe in supporting the comprehensive rejection of the Legal Service Commission’s plans and supporting the principle of effective access to justice for all.

Mr Sharpe said: “This meeting between Mr Grayling and Liverpool’s FLBA was organised to show the depth of concern with the Family Bar in the city about the situation faced by our clients.

“We made it clear that under the proposed scheme vulnerable members of society would be penalized because lawyers of skill and experience would be prevented from providing the service their clients need and which they came into the profession to give because the cuts to the legal aid budget would make it impossible to do so economically.”

“The family justice system as we presently know it will collapse if the plans are forced through.”

The FLBA is taking this issue to Parliament in a major lobbying campaign. At a at a time when public concern over child safety is running high it is important to flag up the flaws and risks inherent in the Government’s current approach to funding legal support in children protection cases.

Samantha Hillas, family law barrister at Atlantic Chambers in Cook Street, said: “The work of the family bar bears a heavy responsibility. Around 62% of family cases involve allegations of abuse, either between partners or of a child. The reason specialist advocacy is so important is that if it goes wrong a wife may have to return to a violent partner or a child go back to an abusive situation.

“This Government policy is driving skilled advocates out of the family justice system.”

A recent report, The Work of the Family Bar, by researchers at Kings College collected data from more than 5,000 cases and found that a majority of family barristers would have to reduce the amount of publicly funded work they took on if the proposals were implemented.

Ironically the cases most likely to be affected are those which were the most complex and which most required the services of experienced lawyers as under the proposed scheme no allowance is made for the complexity of the issues or the volume of work which was needed. Parties in cases involving the removal of a child from their family or cases involving strong emotional problems, mental health or bereavement were all likely to be most affected by the proposed plans.

Mr Grayling said: “We obviously are concerned about anything that affects child protection and this matter needs addressing by Government as a matter of urgency.

“This is something I will certainly be taking back to my colleagues in London to see what can be done.”