Legal change: where's the justice

Proposed government changes to legal aid provision could directly threaten disabled people’s access to justice, says Ruth Patrick, just when it may be needed more than ever

By now, and not least because of previous arguments put in this column, we all know that massive reforms to our benefits system are underway. The migration of 1.5 million disabled people from Incapacity Benefit onto Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) is ongoing, while next year will see Disability Living Allowance replaced with Personal Independence Payments. At the same time, a major “benefits revolution” is promised as the new Universal Credit is gradually introduced to streamline the system by rolling-up existing working-age benefits into one.

In these times of uncertainty and change, it is arguably more important than ever that benefit claimants can access specialist help and advice when and if they need to challenge or question a benefits decision. As millions of disabled people are shunted through new benefit gateways and re-assessed, it is a basic matter of justice that they be able to receive support should they need to appeal against a decision with which they do not agree.

Take ESA as an example. Since it was introduced in 2008, some 39% of those found fit to work have appealed against the decision. Of those who appealed, 38% had the original decision overturned, suggesting that the Work Capability Assessment is getting it wrong in a significant proportion of cases. When appealing, disability benefit claimants frequently turn to the specialist services of Citizens Advice Bureaux and advice agencies for help and advice to navigate the complex and often frightening world of benefit tribunals.

Unfortunately, if the Government has its way this vital help will soon be removed, leaving many vulnerable people on their own in the bureaucratic and jargon-loaded world of benefits decision-making. As part of cost-cutting reforms to legal aid, the Coalition is currently legislating to remove benefits cases from the scope of legal aid. This will effectively mean the end of being able to access freely available specialist advice when challenging benefit decisions. Some provision may remain but this will be entirely dependent on volunteering and charitable donations, and is thus likely to be patchy and unevenly distributed across the country.

Disability charity, Scope, has found that disabled people make up some 58% of those who receive legal aid for benefit cases, estimating that some 78,000 people a year could be directly affected by these reforms. This is not disputed by the Government itself, with their own Equality Impact Assessment into the reforms acknowledging that disabled people, women and ethnic minorities will all be disproportionately affected by the slashing of the legal aid budget.

Worryingly, removing legal aid help with welfare benefit cases will leave disabled people having to – quite literally – defend themselves against the powerful bureaucracy of government. Cynics among us might note the timing of this: just as radical benefit reforms occur, access to specialist help to challenge the outcome of these reforms is simultaneously withdrawn. Critics of the legal aid cuts, and there are many (critics as well as cuts), argue that the reforms could have dangerous knock-on effects where vulnerable people’s situations worsen when incorrect benefit decisions are not overturned.

In an effort to challenge the direction of reform, a coalition of charities, advice agencies, trade unions and community groups have started a campaign – Justice for All – to try and force the Government into a rethink of its ill-judged approach. Given that access to justice is a fundamental part of any decent society, we should all make signing up to this campaign one of our first and most easily achievable New Year resolutions.

• For more information and to sign up to Justice for All: justice-for-all.org.uk