Politicians will discuss the future of legal aid, in a debate to be held at Westminster on Thursday, 1st November. The general debate was approved by the Backbench Business Committee and will be hosted by Andy Slaughter MP and Alistair Carmichael MP.
Legal aid cuts have been an ongoing source of concern for the family justice system, which saw a drastic reduction in the availability of the support service after the introduction of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO). The legislation made it increasingly difficult for families to access legal support, which led to The Public Law Project mounting a legal challenge over its restrictions to legal aid for domestic abuse survivors. The government was eventually forced to back down on several clauses within LASPO, and extend the list of documents victims of domestic violence had to produce in order to qualify for legal aid.
In 2017, the Ministry of Justice also scrapped the five year time limit for producing evidence of domestic violence, and in October of this year, a judicial review ordered the government to amend the Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) Regulations 2012, so that legal aid certificates could be backdated. The change allowed lawyers to continue representing clients while waiting for legal aid certificates to be processed.
This week’s debate will be held in the Grand Committee Room at Westminster Hall. Further details should be released within the next 48 hours, so we will update you as soon as we have them. Members of the public are able to attend this event, but for those who can’t attend, the debate can be watched live on Parliament TV. A complete transcript will also be available three hours after the debate on Commons Hansard.
Researching Reform 
Legal aid can only be sincere and useful in family law cases if the lawyers take detailed instructions from their clients instead of vice versa !
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cafcass (edited) said “all the care needs were met, and the children wish to return home.” before saying some bull shit about “risk of emotional harm, in the future” and recommending adoption. if there was legal aid for appeals i could have appealed against the forced adoption of my eldest 2 daughters, but the solicitor said “how will you pay for it? do you have any family heirlooms or jewellery?” the thieving c**t could have stopped it, but he insisted “it’s not that kind of court” when i asked him to show evidence that proved ss were a bunch of liars. although staffordshire ss asked the magistrates to put a block on any appeals after cafcass said “any appeal would be seen as emotional harm by not allowing the children to settle in their placement”. i’ve never been given access to the court bundles, and the 2 other kangaroo court cases they had g4s keep an eye on the court bundles to make sure they didn’t leave the building, giving us only a few minutes to prepare for the cases.
if i was an immigrant terrorist i could get £250,000 in legal aid https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4597508/Jihadi-fighting-stay-Britain-given-250k-legal-aid.html , but when they kidnap and forcibly adopt an englishman’s children you get f**k all legal aid.
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Legal Aid may be a good thing but finding a genuine Solicitor who actually believes in winning is the real issue.
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