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By Baroness Deech - 13th December 2010
If not properly assessed, cuts in legal aid could end up costing the taxpayer more, says Baroness Deech.
The Ministry of Justice's green paper, Proposals for the Reform of Legal Aid in England and Wales, published in November, will have a major impact on the administration of justice. One of the effects of reducing or withdrawing legal aid from family cases will be to increase the number of people who will be unable to obtain legal representation, and as a result have to present their case themselves – ‘litigants in person'.
Few would quarrel with the need to control public finances and where possible to achieve savings in administering the court system. My question seeks to establish whether the government has any basis for believing that the removal of legal representation will actually save costs and do no harm. The green paper acknowledges that there will be an increase in the number of litigants in person in the family courts. It also recognises that this will have the potential for creating delays in proceedings, poorer outcomes for litigants and implications for the judiciary as well as costs for HM Courts Service.
Research published in 2005 showed that cases involving litigants in person appear to take significantly longer and are less likely to settle. Lord Neuberger has warned that mediation is no substitute for justice; vulnerable people involved in family law disputes should not be left unaided to bear the burden of a law that is far too complex and emotional.
More research needs to be undertaken before the consultation ends next February. The effects of proposed cuts in legal aid which affect access to justice in family (as well as other) cases need to be properly assessed to ensure they don't end up costing the taxpayer more and thereby defeating the very purpose they were intended to achieve.
Baroness Deech is a Crossbench peer. A former principal of St Anne's College, Oxford, she has had a long-standing interest in family law. She is chair of the Bar Standards Board
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