Law Society hails government defeats over legal aid

The Law Society has hailed a series of defeats inflicted on the government in the first days of the report stage for the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill.

Chancery Lane also welcomed the fact that ministers had been forced into offering concessions in other areas.

Peers have voted against the government on several occasions this week:

• Insisting that the legislation should state that people “must have access to legal services that effectively meet their needs”;
• Inserting amendments intended to protect victims of domestic violence. The Law Society said these included setting out a comprehensive list of eligibility criteria for obtaining legal aid on the face of the bill;
• Inserting a sub-clause ensuring the independence of the new post of director of legal aid casework from political interference;
• Retaining legal aid for welfare benefits appeals, “with respect to both reviews and lower tribunal appeals and also with respect to appeals to the higher courts”; and
• Retaining legal aid for the cost of obtaining medical reports in clinical negligence cases.

The Law Society applauded government concessions on clinical negligence for severely injured children, the Bill’s definition of domestic violence, the power to means-test police station advice, the retained power only to omit further services from legal aid in the future, on domestic child abduction and for victims of human trafficking.

“There are also promising signs of movement from the government on providing legal aid for appellants in cases which are certified as complex or are of substantial public interest,” Chancery Lane said.

The Law Society added that it expected “several more government defeats” during the report stage, which is set to continue for a further two weeks.