Savage cuts to Yorkshire’s legal aid services have led one of the region’s best-known lawyers to warn that the region’s family justice system is “facing meltdown”.
Grahame Stowe is the senior partner at Grahame Stowe Bateson, which is one of the biggest providers of legal aid family law in Yorkshire. He revealed that of the 31 firms currently taking on legal aid family cases in Leeds, 23 have been informed by the Legal Services Commission that their legal aid contracts will be withdrawn in October.Legal aid family lawyers represent some of the region’s most vulnerable people, from victims of domestic violence to abused children. They also represent parents who have been accused of abuse and who stand to lose their children forever.In Leeds, a city with significant areas of deprivation and a total population of nearly three-quarters of a million, the Legal Services Commission’s decision leaves just eight firms offering family law legal aid.
Grahame Stowe said: “These cuts to Yorkshire legal aid services defy all reason, and are nothing less than savage. Our family courts are already overloaded, with child care cases taking, on average, more than 44 weeks to be decided. We understand that many government-funded programmes are currently under review, but legal aid provides access to justice for those who need it most.
“Our fear is that areas of Yorkshire will no longer be served by legal aid family lawyers, which will limit access to justice, delay sensitive cases yet further and leave the region’s family justice system facing meltdown.”
Grahame Stowe Bateson has six offices in Leeds and Harrogate, has donated more than £1 million of free legal advice since it was founded in 1981 and has been praised by Leeds MPs and the Law Society for its commitment to providing access to justice.
Now the firm’s five Leeds offices - a number of which are located in poorer areas of the city - are to have their family contracts withdrawn, while Grahame Stowe Bateson’s office in Harrogate is to have its legal aid family contract renewed.
Grahame Stowe Bateson’s Leeds offices have been awarded a new legal aid child care contract and can continue to represent vulnerable children in care proceedings. But the Legal Services Commission has informed the firm that it is not permitted to have both contracts. Instead Grahame Stowe Bateson must choose between legally aided family law work in Harrogate and public law child care work in Leeds - a decision that Grahame Stowe described as “nonsensical”.
“The formula by which contracts have been awarded is incomprehensible. We have been told that we can appeal, but it appears that the people overseeing the appeals process are the same people who made the decision in the first place.
“Unfortunately, the problems may be just beginning. The Legal Services Commission’s mental health contracts were reviewed several weeks ago, and providers were allocated less than two-thirds of the new cases for which they had applied. Later this year the criminal law contracts will be reviewed. Already there is speculation among lawyers that contracts will be awarded to just 10 firms in West Yorkshire, which if true is unimaginable. The loss of firms, careers and service to the public would be incalculable.”
Nationwide, the number of firms offering family law legal aid has been cut by almost half, from 2,400 to 1,300. The Legal Services Commission has insisted that the exercise “is about providing a better quality service to clients”. However the Law Society has warned that in parts of the country, thousands of people could struggle to get access to lawyers.
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