UK government warned over legal aid cuts

People could start “taking the law into their own hands” as a result of the British government’s plans to reduce the number of civil cases eligible for taxpayer-funded legal advice and representation, solicitors have warned.

The Law Society, which represents solicitors in England and Wales, said people could be encouraged to administer the law instead of the legal system because of “an inability to seek justice” following the government’s cuts to legal aid.

Under reforms to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (Laspo), which came into effect on Monday, people will have to fund their own legal advice, seek help from a charity or represent themselves.

The UK government is seeking to save about £350 million from its £2.2 billion annual bill for legal aid by removing public funding in many areas of civil law, including family disputes, advice on some employment and education law as well as some debt and housing issues.

Richard Miller, head of legal aid at the Law Society, said, “We have warned Government consistently that, as well as all the knock-on costs, the social consequences will be damaging to the whole of society, not just the vulnerable who will take the worst hit of all.”