Government should reconsider legal aid proposals, says Human Rights Joint Committee

Changes needed to ensure ‘effective access to justice’

The Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on Human Rights has said that the Government should reconsider its proposals for the reform of legal aid.

The Committee's recently published report considers proposed changes to civil and criminal legal aid. The committee fears that without broader exemptions to the proposals, a residence test for civil legal aid could lead to breaches of the fundamental right of effective access to justice in individual cases.

The Committee:

recommends that any residence test be introduced through primary legislation, rather than secondary legislation, to allow for full Parliamentary scrutiny of the details of a measure which interferes with the right of effective access to court;
suggests that all children should be exempt from any residence test;
concludes that the test could severely impact the right of access to court of individuals who lack specific mental capacity, and are prevented from litigating in person; and
asks the Government to consider expanding the limited exemptions from the residence test for victims of domestic violence.

The Committee is also concerned about the proposal to remove cases with borderline prospects of success from legal aid funding, as these cases may include determination of significant human rights issues. The Committee concludes that this may raise equality of arms issues, and lead to a potential problem in relation to the creation of precedent to guide lower courts which will in turn affect a large number of cases.

The report is available here.

15/12/13

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