Since the reforms came into effect, there has been a significant underspend in the civil legal aid budget because the MoJ failed to ensure that those who are eligible for legal aid are able to access it. This has been partly been due to a lack of public information, including information about the Civil Legal Advice telephone gateway for debt advice, and the Committee recommends that the MoJ take prompt steps to redress this. The Committee also concludes that the exceptional cases funding scheme has not worked as Parliament intended. It was supposed to act as a safety net, protecting access to justice for the most vulnerable. The Committee expects the MoJ to react rapidly to ensure that the scheme fulfils Parliament's intention that the most vulnerable people are able to access legal assistance. The Government's reforms have led to an increase in the number and a change in the profile of litigants in person: increasingly these are people who have no choice but to represent themselves, and who may thus have difficulty in doing so effectively: although many tribunals are accustomed to dealing with unrepresented litigants the courts have to expend more resources in order to assist them. The MoJ has not been able to demonstrate that it has achieved value for money for the taxpayer. Although significant savings have been achieved, efforts to target legal aid at those who most need it have focused on intervention aimed at the point after a crisis has already developed, rather than on prevention.

This book charts the difficulties encountered by vulnerable consumers in their access to justice, through the contributions of prominent authors (academic, practitioners and consultants) in the field of consumer law and access to justice. It demonstrates that despite the development of ADR, access to justice is still severely lacking for the vulnerable consumer. The book highlights that a broad understanding of access to justice, which encompasses good regulation and its public enforcement, is an essential ingredient alongside access to the mechanisms of traditional private justice (courts and ADR) to protect the vulnerable consumer. Indeed, many of the difficulties are linked to normative obstacles and lack of access to justice is primarily a vulnerability in itself that can exacerbate existing ones. In addition, because it may contribute to ‘pushing’ already vulnerable consumers into social exclusion it is not simply about economic justice but also about social justice. The book shows that lack of access to justice is not irreversible nor is it necessarily linked to consumer apathy. New technologies could provide solutions. The book concludes with a plea for developing ‘inclusive’ justice systems with more emphasis on public enforcement alongside effective courts systems to offer the vulnerable with adequate means to defend themselves. This book will be suitable for both students and practitioners, and all those with an interest in the justice system.

This book examines access to justice in summary criminal proceedings by considering the ability of defendants to play an active and effective role in the process. 'Access to justice' refers not just to the availability of legally aided representation, but also to the ability of defendants to understand and effectively participate in summary criminal proceedings more generally. It remains a vital principle of justice that justice should not only be done, but should also be seen to be done by all participants in the process. The book is based on socio-legal research. The study is ethnographic, based on observation conducted in four magistrates' courts in South East England and interviews with both defence lawyers and Crown prosecutors. Setting out an argument that defendants have always been marginalised through particular features of magistrates' court proceedings (such as courtroom layout and patterns of behaviour among the professional workgroups in court), the political climate in relation to defendants and access to justice that has persisted since 2010 has further undermined the ability of defendants to play an active role in the process. Ultimately, this book argues that recent governments have demanded ever more efficiency and cost saving in criminal justice. In that context, principles that contribute to access to justice for defendants have been seriously undermined.

After the Act describes the aftermath of the recent removal under LASPO of public funding from legal services in family matters other than in defined cases such as child protection and domestic abuse. Through analysis of the policy context, interviews with key players, observation of services provided by lawyers, students, lay support workers and the advice sector, the authors outline the work being done and the skills being used in a range of settings. The book raises questions not only about access to family justice, but about the role of law in family matters in an increasingly post-legal society. Fragmentation of the market in the new services offering information, initial advice, online or alternative dispute resolution – but rarely ongoing casework – raises questions about where costs fall and how quality can be assured. Many of these services are forms of private ordering, where outcomes are hard to assess. If neither the state nor the individual can afford full legal services where the best interests of any child involved are of paramount importance, and lawyers negotiate to make best use of the resources available, perhaps it is time to consider using lawyers differently, with lay support, to solve problems before they become disputes.

This book considers how access to justice is affected by restrictions to legal aid budgets and increasingly prescriptive service guidelines. As common law jurisdictions, England and Wales and Australia, share similar ideals, policies and practices, but they differ in aspects of their legal and political culture, in the nature of the communities they serve and in their approaches to providing access to justice. These jurisdictions thus provide us with different perspectives on what constitutes justice and how we might seek to overcome the burgeoning crisis in unmet legal need. The book fills an important gap in existing scholarship as the first to bring together new empirical and theoretical knowledge examining different responses to legal aid crises both in the domestic and comparative contexts, across criminal, civil and family law. It achieves this by examining the broader social, political, legal, health and welfare impacts of legal aid cuts and prescriptive service guidelines. Across both jurisdictions, this work suggests that it is the most vulnerable groups who lose out in the way the law now operates in the twenty-first century. This book is essential reading for academics, students, practitioners and policymakers interested in criminal and civil justice, access to justice, the provision of legal assistance and legal aid.

Drawing on a wide range of up-to-date research, Employment Relations under Coalition Government critically examines developments in UK employment relations during the period of Conservative-Liberal Democrat government between 2010 and 2015, against the background of the 2007-08 financial crisis, subsequent economic recession and in the context of the primacy accorded to neo-liberal austerity. Contributions cover a series of important and relevant topics in a rigorous, yet accessible manner: labour market change and the rise of zero-hours contracts and other forms of precarious employment; policy development relating to young people’s employment; the coalition’s welfare-to-work agenda; its programme of employment law reform and its approach to workplace equality and health and safety; labour migration; the experience of the trade unions under the coalition and their responses; and developments in employment relations in the public services. This book addresses the broader issues relating to the coalition period, such as the implications of political and regulatory change for employment relations, including the greater devolution of powers to Scotland and Wales, and locates UK developments in comparative perspective. The book concludes with an assessment of the prospects for employment relations in the aftermath of the May 2015 Conservatives election victory.