Report on the impact of the proposals contained in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill

In response to the proposed cuts to Legal Aid that have been put forward by the Government ,in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, the Law Society requested that Kings College London prepared a report that  looked into the possible results of the cuts, that the Government have not considered.

Dr Graham Cookson led the research team at Kings College and their report has now been published.  The report can be found on the Kings College website.  The Law Society has released a press release in relation to the findings of the report and this can be found on the Law Society website.

Although the report was commissioned by the Law Society, Kings College have been keen to stress that their findings are independent and not influenced by any outside parties.

One of the central conclusions of the report is that savings that the Government has claimed will be made by the changes are unlikely to be achieved.  The analysis upon which the Government has concluded the costs benefits of the proposed cuts is considered by the report to be "at best opaque and at worst mistaken”.

The proposed cuts have already received widespread criticism and in particular were almost unanimously condemned by members of the House of Lords in the second reading of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill in November 2011.  One of the major concerns of the Lords being that the proposed cuts to Legal Aid will mean that a number of people will simply not be able to afford access to Justice and thereby be denied the right to seek redress through the Courts.

It is hoped that the findings of the report will receive widespread media attention and bring, what we believe to be a serious attack by the Government on the principles of the fundamental right to access to justice for all, to the population as a whole and thereby increase debate on this important issue.