How Will New Legal Aid Proposals Affect You?
Britons who want to make a compensation claim or take somebody to court are currently able to rely on a government funding scheme called Legal Aid.
However, the government has been looking into making changes to the programme, a controversial move that has been criticised by solicitors and campaigners alike.
Legal Aid: A Background
The government has decided to make its changes to Legal Aid in an attempt to bring down the spiralling costs incurred by the NHS when paying out damages to victims of negligence. Furthermore, many ministers, including Ken Clarke, believe there is a compensation culture in the country whereby people are being encouraged by insurers and solicitors to claim compensation when they don’t necessarily deserve it.
People who want to take legal action but have disposable assets worth less than 8,000 are currently able to get financial help from the state.
But under the new proposed legislation, this limit could be reduced to just 1,000 of disposable assets. In addition, the funding won’t apply for all legal services including:
* Medical negligence claims
* Employment law cases
* Some family law cases
* Some housing and debt issues
In addition, new legislation aims to change the way the no win, no fee system works.
Lawyers will be able to ask for a success fee from the claimant worth as much as a quarter of the total damages recovered if the case is won, whereas at the moment this success fee comes from the losing defendant.
Possible Repercussions
Since the proposals were announced in 2010, many law firms and organisations like Citizens Advice have regularly criticised the government for the plans, believing them to be unnecessary and controversial.
Critics believe the new law could have the following effects:
* It could be that the cost of making a successful claim, taking into account legal fees, could end up being more than the sum of money ultimately recovered in compensation
* This may mean could lead to victims of negligence actually being charged for seeking compensation, rather than rewarded
* Only wealthy people will be able to afford to go to court
* Poor and vulnerable people will now find it extremely difficult to get access to legal advice
* Lack of access to funding could force people further into debt, rather than help them out of debt