What now for deprivations of liberty?
What will the effect of the postponement of the Liberty Protections Safeguards be on local authorities? Local Government Lawyer asked 50 adult social care lawyers for their views on the potential consequences.
SPOTLIGHT |
The controversial Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Bill was given Royal Assent this week, with ministers claiming that local authoriities are among those that stand to benefit from its reforms.
Measures in the Act include:
A number of the reforms will not come into force until 2013.
The MoJ argued that its reforms to no-win, no-fee deals would mean that the cost and risk of taking on cases was more evenly balanced between claimants and defendants.
“The Act aims to stop the symptoms of a compensation culture where the public are facing increased insurance costs, and local authorities and firms are scared to go about their business, due to the high legal costs that widely advertised no-win no-fee deals can ramp up,” it said.
Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke said: “These reforms will strengthen our work to cut crime, protect the public and ensure taxpayers’ money is being spent where it is most needed and most effective.
“The Act will fundamentally improve many areas of the justice system and start to tackle the shameful rate of reoffending in this country, as well as ensuring we have clear, tough prison sentences and suitable punishments for criminals who use knives to threaten others, ruin lives with dangerous driving or who squat in people’s homes.”
The MoJ insisted that England and Wales would still have have “one of the most generous systems in the world” despite the Act’s measures to cut the legal aid bill.
It said the legislation was designed to encourage people to take more responsibility for exploring the range of practical advice available to them to tackle problems early, rather than immediately taking legal action.
Justice Minister Jonathan Djanogly said: ”This Act will reduce lawyers’ fees, which we all end up paying for through increased prices and insurance premiums. It will make legal costs fairer between people suing for compensation and the defendants, so that the defendants are not denied access to justice through fear of high legal costs.”
But Law Society President John Wotton warned in the Law Society’s Gazette that the consequence of the Act would be that, in areas like housing and welfare benefits law, vulnerable members of society would find legal advice and representation in the courts, funded by legal aid, more difficult to obtain.