Restricted access to legal advice says Law Society after latest Ministry of Justice cuts
Released on:
21/08/2009
The legal aid consultation issued by the Ministry of Justice raises the prospect of cutting payments to solicitors for police station work, and risks people who are arrested having reduced access to advice, said the Law Society today.
Many solicitors will not be able to provide a service if rates are reduced further. This will be particularly the case in London - where solicitors work on the very edges of profitability. Many of the worst affected solicitors will be from the BME community, who provide important advice to members of that community - who are statistically more likely to be arrested.
Des Hudson Law Society Chief Executive, said: "Solicitors don't create the demand for advice in police stations; they simply respond to requests from people who've been arrested - how can the Government imply that the profession can somehow alter that - solicitors have no control over how many people are arrested. Having access to legal advice in a police station is central to the working of our criminal justice system . It can result in early guilty pleas and can also ensure that innocent people are not prosecuted. It avoids the miscarriages of justice that were seen in the 1970s. Government should be investing in this to achieve future savings. Arbitrarily cutting the fees that they are paid will reduce access to this vital service for the people who need it most"
The statement issued is also misleading and incorrect. It is not only barristers but solicitor advocates who will affected by the consultation proposal to cut the rate of pay in crown court cases.
Des Hudson said: "For the criminal law solicitors whose businesses and livelihood are to be the subject of a Best Value Tendering (BVT) experiment in Bristol and Manchester this is deeply worrying. Whilst they bid for work the MOJ introduces a flat rate country wide fee. This consultation lacks thought for the long term future of access to justice. We are currently compiling a review into legal aid which we hope will be the base for the future of legal aid. We recognise that there is not a bottomless pit of money for legal services, but Government needs to work with the professions to provide long term solutions. We will be looking into these proposals in more detail and feeding back to the profession ASAP but in the mean time we will be lobbying the Government to delay implementation of the BVT experiments in Manchester and Bristol."
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