Brighton legal aid campaign launched

Advisors fear their funding will be cut under Government plans to reform the legal aid system.

Organisations including Brighton Housing Trust, Citizens Advice Bureau and Age Concern has launched a campaign to keep early legal advice free for people on low incomes.

Funding is currently provided for advisors on a case-by-case basis at a set rate.

The Government is proposing setting up a centralised phone line for legal advice, and removing the right to free early legal advice for benefits problems, clinical negligence, special needs schooling, consumer problems, victims of crime seeking compensation, some debt disputes, employment tribunals and some family disputes.

Andy Winter, of Brighton Housing Trust, said: “None of us know exactly when we may need the support of legal aid, if we are fighting homelessness or if we have crippling debt.

“Everyone in Brighton should regard this as a matter of the utmost urgency.”

Brighton and Hove’s Justice For All campaign was launched yesterday with a video and petition to ask the government to reconsider its plans.

Campaigner Paul Sweeting said cutting funding for legal advice would mean people would only be able to access legal aid by the time they got to court – too late for many facing eviction or other problems.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice said: "At more than £2 billion a year, we have one of the most expensive legal aid systems in the world.

"The current system encourages lengthy, acrimonious and sometimes unnecessary court proceedings, at tax payers' expense, which do not always ensure the best result for those involved.

"We need to make clear choices to ensure that legal aid will continue to be available in those cases that really require it, the protection of the most vulnerable in society, and the efficient performance of the justice system.”

The Justice For All campaign’s website and petition is at www.justiceforall-brightonandhove.co.uk.