By Monidipa Fouzder >>
(22 July 2024)
Only people living in very deep poverty will be eligible for legal aid next year if means test thresholds are not lifted sooner and adjusted to reflect recent inflation, according to fresh research commissioned by the Law Society.
In May 2022 – a year before the previous government finally announced means test reforms, a report commissioned by Chancery Lane warned that revised thresholds to determine legal aid eligibility would immediately be out of date. Earlier this year, the House of Commons justice select committee was told full implementation of means test reforms would not be completed before summer 2026.
The ‘Minimum Income Standard’ is the income level that the public agree is needed, to have a minimum socially acceptable standard of living in the UK.
Updated research commissioned by the Society, published today, forecasts that by 2025, people with children will typically not qualify for full civil legal aid unless they have less than half the income they need as a minimum, and those without children less than a fifth of what they need. Some criminal defendants will have to contribute to their own legal costs even with 40% less income than they need.
Law Society president Nick Emmerson said: ‘Viewing those who are already living significantly below the Minimum Income Standard as being well enough off to contribute to legal costs will only lead to a denial of justice for survivors of abuse deprived of the protection they need and for families vulnerable to illegal evictions from rogue landlords.
‘The new government’s pledges to reduce homelessness and tackle violence against women and girls cannot be fulfilled unless the recommendations of the meant test review are urgently implemented.’
Professor Donald Hirsch, one of the authors of the 2022 and 2024 reports, stressed that inflation must be properly taken into account when assessing whether people have sufficient money to cover legal costs and their essential daily needs.
‘Higher prices need to be factored in, not just into the income thresholds implemented now, but also into a system for making future adjustments,’ Hirsch added.
(Courtesy: The Law Society Gazette)
