JUSTICE FOR ALL – DAY OF ACTION
STOP CUTS TO FREE ADVICE IN YORKSHIRE!
STOP CUTS TO FREE ADVICE IN YORKSHIRE!
Join us for a public meeting outside
Sheffield Town Hall
FRIDAY 3RD JUNE: 5-6 PM
Show your support for the campaign against cuts. Speakers include Jillian Creasy (councillor, Green Party), David Blunkett (MP, Labour), Joe Bartlett (Harthills Solicitors, family specialist) and other local activists. Music from Sheffield Socialist Choir.
For more info, contact Carita at caritaruththomas@yahoo.co.uk
It is a rally to protest about the cuts to legal aid - Friday 3rd June at 5 pm outside the Town Hall in Sheffield. Please spread the word, and attend if possible!
We have some great speakers including:
Jillian Creasy (Councillor, Green Party)
David Blunkett (MP, Labour Party)
Joe Bartlett (Partner, Harthills Solicitors - family specialist)
Chris Cole - Partner, Cole & Yousaf Solicitors, Co-convenor of the Immigration Lawyers Practitioner Group (North East and Yorkshire) - immigration specialist)
Jenny Cummings (Legal aid worker at Foxhill and Parson Cross advice service - speaking on welfare benefits)
Linda Laurie (disability activist)
Geraldine O'Connor (activist and legal aid user - speaking on debt)
Danny Smith (Howells, housing caseworker)
Advice workers and Solicitors are demonstrating at a rally outside Sheffield
Town Hall On Friday 3rd June at 5pm, at Government plans to cut two-thirds of
legal aid to their clients.
Legal aid workers are angry that the Government proposals will hit the poorest
people the hardest and that the main cuts are targeted at low-cost preventative work
– not expensive high-profile trials.
Under Government plans, free legal advice would be abolished for problems with
employment, welfare benefits, family law, immigration and consumer problems, as
well as most debt and housing advice. At present, this is delivered to people on low
incomes by Citizens Advice Bureaux, independent advice centres, the Law Centre
and private practice solicitors.
Many solicitors firms have stopped doing legal aid work in recent years and now only
offer paid-for services to those who can afford them. The effect of the proposed cuts
is to abolish the advice needed by an estimated 650,000 people each year.
Speakers at the event include Green Party councillor Jillian Creasy, MP David
Blunkett, along with legal aid practitioners and clients of these vital services.
Carita Thomas, of Young Legal Aid Lawyers, said:
“Legal aid is a safety net for the most vulnerable. It is there to help people
through the hard times, whether it’s getting contact with their kids or
employment or debt advice when they lose their jobs. The government's cuts
will hit us all but particularly women, minorities and the disabled who are most
likely to need free help.”
“If we want a fair society, taking away the means by which people can be
equal before the law is not the way to go about it.”
Douglas Johnson of Sheffield Law Centre, said,
“Charities like ours, and our clients, will feel the biggest cuts. The
Government says the voluntary sector will face a massive 77% cut from the
legal aid budget. This is on top of further cuts proposed for anti-discrimination
casework. It is clearly intended to hit the most vulnerable and
disadvantaged.”
Chris Cole of Cole & Yousaf Solicitors said,
“What’s staggering about the Government’s proposals is that they are aimed
at the areas of preventative work that help people sort out their everyday
problems before they become a crisis that would cost the State a lot more in
social care.”
Councillor Jillian Creasy said,
“Everyone needs access to free legal advice to nip problems in the bud and
prevent them escalating. As a Green councillor, I do hundreds of pieces of
casework each year and it's vital that I can refer on to local services like
Sharrow CAB, funded by legal aid, when more specialist advice is needed.”
Geraldine O’Connor said,
“If the government takes away free legal aid, it will be one law for the rich, one
law for the poor.”
“This is intolerable in a so-called democracy. I am a disabled woman and had
to stop work because of my illness, which meant I got into debt. I turned to
legal aid to get help sorting out repayments. Without my solicitor, I would have
been sunk.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The Government’s Green Paper “Proposals for the Reform of Legal Aid in England
and Wales” was published in November 2010. Over 5000 organisations and individuals
responded to the consultation.
2. The main proposal is to remove legal aid for employment problems; clinical negligence
(complaints about healthcare); consumer problems and contracts; debts such as council
tax, utilities, credit card debts, fines, unsecured personal loans, overdrafts and hire
purchase debts and insolvency problems; criminal injuries; education issues (problems
at school or college); welfare benefits and asylum support; family law cases where there
has been no physical violence; most housing cases; most immigration cases unless
people are actually detained; assaults; negligence; false imprisonment. Legal aid will not
be available in these areas, regardless of the merits of the case. There will be no legal
aid for appeals against bad decisions in these cases.
3. Legal aid expenditure was £2.1 billion in 2008/09, of which £700m (33%) was for highlevel
criminal cases (Crown Court trials), £650m (31%) was for full civil legal aid. Only
£263m (12½%) was spent on civil legal aid advice and assistance (“legal help”). The notfor-
profit sector (CABx, Law centres, independent advice centres, etc.) benefits from
£78m of this funding.
4. The Government proposes to cut 28% of legal aid funding. The NFP sector will be
affected by a cut of 77% of its funding.
5. 943,904 people were helped with legal aid in 2010-11; under the proposals, 653,659
people will no longer be able to receive a service, according to research by the Legal
Action Group.
6. In 2009, the Legal Services Commission said, “Legal aid gives people who can least
afford it access to justice, which provides a vital safety net and makes our society a
civilised one.”
7. Justice for All (www.justice-for-all.org.uk) is a collation of over 3000 charities,
legal and advice agencies, politicians, trade unions, community groups and
members of the public. Justice for All is holding a national day of action on 3rd
June to raise awareness of the effect of the proposed cut in access to justice,
with a series of events around the country.
For further information on this press release, please contact Carita Thomas at
caritaruththomas@yahoo.co.uk or 07791 450620 or Douglas Johnson on
djp191@yahoo.co.uk or at 0114 273 1501 / 07981 860662.
Advice workers and Solicitors are demonstrating at a rally outside Sheffield
Town Hall On Friday 3rd June at 5pm, at Government plans to cut two-thirds of
legal aid to their clients.
Legal aid workers are angry that the Government proposals will hit the poorest
people the hardest and that the main cuts are targeted at low-cost preventative work
– not expensive high-profile trials.
Under Government plans, free legal advice would be abolished for problems with
employment, welfare benefits, family law, immigration and consumer problems, as
well as most debt and housing advice. At present, this is delivered to people on low
incomes by Citizens Advice Bureaux, independent advice centres, the Law Centre
and private practice solicitors.
Many solicitors firms have stopped doing legal aid work in recent years and now only
offer paid-for services to those who can afford them. The effect of the proposed cuts
is to abolish the advice needed by an estimated 650,000 people each year.
Speakers at the event include Green Party councillor Jillian Creasy, MP David
Blunkett, along with legal aid practitioners and clients of these vital services.
Carita Thomas, of Young Legal Aid Lawyers, said:
“Legal aid is a safety net for the most vulnerable. It is there to help people
through the hard times, whether it’s getting contact with their kids or
employment or debt advice when they lose their jobs. The government's cuts
will hit us all but particularly women, minorities and the disabled who are most
likely to need free help.”
“If we want a fair society, taking away the means by which people can be
equal before the law is not the way to go about it.”
Douglas Johnson of Sheffield Law Centre, said,
“Charities like ours, and our clients, will feel the biggest cuts. The
Government says the voluntary sector will face a massive 77% cut from the
legal aid budget. This is on top of further cuts proposed for anti-discrimination
casework. It is clearly intended to hit the most vulnerable and
disadvantaged.”
Chris Cole of Cole & Yousaf Solicitors said,
“What’s staggering about the Government’s proposals is that they are aimed
at the areas of preventative work that help people sort out their everyday
problems before they become a crisis that would cost the State a lot more in
social care.”
Councillor Jillian Creasy said,
“Everyone needs access to free legal advice to nip problems in the bud and
prevent them escalating. As a Green councillor, I do hundreds of pieces of
casework each year and it's vital that I can refer on to local services like
Sharrow CAB, funded by legal aid, when more specialist advice is needed.”
Geraldine O’Connor said,
“If the government takes away free legal aid, it will be one law for the rich, one
law for the poor.”
“This is intolerable in a so-called democracy. I am a disabled woman and had
to stop work because of my illness, which meant I got into debt. I turned to
legal aid to get help sorting out repayments. Without my solicitor, I would have
been sunk.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The Government’s Green Paper “Proposals for the Reform of Legal Aid in England
and Wales” was published in November 2010. Over 5000 organisations and individuals
responded to the consultation.
2. The main proposal is to remove legal aid for employment problems; clinical negligence
(complaints about healthcare); consumer problems and contracts; debts such as council
tax, utilities, credit card debts, fines, unsecured personal loans, overdrafts and hire
purchase debts and insolvency problems; criminal injuries; education issues (problems
at school or college); welfare benefits and asylum support; family law cases where there
has been no physical violence; most housing cases; most immigration cases unless
people are actually detained; assaults; negligence; false imprisonment. Legal aid will not
be available in these areas, regardless of the merits of the case. There will be no legal
aid for appeals against bad decisions in these cases.
3. Legal aid expenditure was £2.1 billion in 2008/09, of which £700m (33%) was for highlevel
criminal cases (Crown Court trials), £650m (31%) was for full civil legal aid. Only
£263m (12½%) was spent on civil legal aid advice and assistance (“legal help”). The notfor-
profit sector (CABx, Law centres, independent advice centres, etc.) benefits from
£78m of this funding.
4. The Government proposes to cut 28% of legal aid funding. The NFP sector will be
affected by a cut of 77% of its funding.
5. 943,904 people were helped with legal aid in 2010-11; under the proposals, 653,659
people will no longer be able to receive a service, according to research by the Legal
Action Group.
6. In 2009, the Legal Services Commission said, “Legal aid gives people who can least
afford it access to justice, which provides a vital safety net and makes our society a
civilised one.”
7. Justice for All (www.justice-for-all.org.uk) is a collation of over 3000 charities,
legal and advice agencies, politicians, trade unions, community groups and
members of the public. Justice for All is holding a national day of action on 3rd
June to raise awareness of the effect of the proposed cut in access to justice,
with a series of events around the country.
For further information on this press release, please contact Carita Thomas at
caritaruththomas@yahoo.co.uk or 07791 450620 or Douglas Johnson on
djp191@yahoo.co.uk or at 0114 273 1501 / 07981 860662.
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