Legal Aid for clinical negligence

Public opinion has hardened against the government’s cuts to legal aid, according to the results of a poll newly published to mark the 65th anniversary of the founding of the legal aid system.

Research, funded by the Law Society and carried out by Ipsos-Mori for charity Legal Action Group, shows a decline in public support for the government’s cuts to legal aid.

Under a quarter (23%) of the 1,000 people surveyed in April agreed with cuts to legal aid, down from just over a third (33%) in the same poll carried out last April when the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 came into force.

In 2013, 44% of those surveyed disagreed with the statement that legal aid should be cut to reduce the spending deficit, compared with 49% this year. An analysis of news stories carried out by Legal Action Group (LAG) found evidence that the government has pursued a policy of ‘systematic attacks’ to try and sway public opinion against the legal aid system and the lawyers who work in it.

The group notes an article in which lord chancellor Chris Grayling criticises a law firm for its pursuit of claims by Iraqis against British forces and another where Grayling cited figures on firms’ receipts from the legal aid system to demonstrate that the legal aid system ‘is not sustainable’.

LAG director Steve Hynes is reported as saying: ‘It is 65 years ago that the modern legal aid system was born, but in keeping with what has been a highly negative approach to this important public service there has been no official recognition of this anniversary by the government.’ 

While legal aid has been ‘much maligned’ by the lord chancellor, public support for the scheme remains ‘remarkably strong’, Hynes said. ‘If anything this opinion-polling evidence shows that the government is comprehensively losing the argument.’

Law Society president Andrew Caplen is reported as saying:  ‘Since access to legal aid for ordinary people was slashed from April last year, there is a growing realisation amongst the public that help with everyday legal problems such as family, housing and employment law cases is much less widely available than it was.’

‘The evidence from this poll demonstrates that the more these effects become apparent, the less the public is prepared to support cuts to legal aid.’