Law Society concerns over legal aid provision in Wales leads to government intervention

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Credit: bbc.co.uk

Following concerns raised by the Law Society of England and Wales and local practitioners about legal aid in West Wales, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has intervened by uplifting police station fixed fees in Llanelli.

Duty solicitors who were covering Amman Valley, Carmarthen, were facing a dramatic reduction in their fees due to a change in custody suites last month. Overnight, 12 solicitors who provide essential legal advice to people who have been arrested were told that their fees would be slashed by 25%, with dire consequences for access to justice in a predominantly rural area. Their offices had not moved, the level of service remained the same. The only change was the location of police station. *

President of the Law Society Nick Emmerson said: “We are pleased to see that the Ministry of Justice has responded to our calls to restore fees to their previous rates for the four affected law firms.

“Duty solicitors work hard with very little resources to help people at crisis point. We were concerned the arbitrary cuts to their fees would be the death knell for legal aid in an area that has long been considered an advice desert for criminal practitioners.

 

“Our members told us that the fee cuts meant it was no longer economically viable for the law firms covering this part of Wales to provide criminal legal aid. The MoJ has righted the wrong so that law firms in West Wales can continue to provide this service to the area.

 

“This is a specific example of the national crisis facing our criminal justice system and how it devastates local justice,” Nick Emmerson continued.

“Criminal legal aid requires urgent investment from the government: their own independent review from two years ago recommended a boost of 15% as a bare minimum lifeline. ** Since then, inflation has left firms in a worse situation than projected in the report. More and more solicitors are leaving the profession, the few that remain are struggling against the tide of advice deserts, a crumbling courts estate and case backlogs at record highs. ***

“We hope the positive step taken by the MoJ in this case will build momentum for the government to bring about further changes for the survival of legal aid and our criminal justice system.”

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11 COMMENTS

    • Suzanne Victoria Thorpe this post is about Duty solicitors fees,not about asylum seekers,and yes it’s the Law that decides the legal status of refugees not you.
      However are you saying the Asylum seekers would have been welcome by all of you if they would have been housed in the centre of Llanelli?

    • Cheryl Jones I think we disagree on this subject Cheryl. They are not refugees they are illegal immigrants with no paper. They come on dingys with no papers . ALL MEN. If they were women and children coming from war torn country’s I’d be all for it. These are economic migrants .

    • Suzanne Victoria Thorpe you’re talking nonsense and you know it,it’s not about disagreement it’s about facts,the Law is a fact,where is your evidence to support the ALL MEN,no papers,economic migrants etc,can you show me evidence please? Again I’ll ask the question,would you all have been happy if these asylum seeking families would have been housed in the centre of Llanelli?

    • Cheryl Jones no I don’t want any of the illegal immigrants in llanelli. It was a joke putting them in the police station because the police were on their side in stradey park hotel. Yes I was there protesting.

    • Suzanne Victoria Thorpe no the Police were not on their side,the Police were on the side of the Law,and no matter how many times you say illegal Immigrants you can’t make it the truth,but I’m pleased you’ve admitted you wouldn’t want asylum seekers anywhere in Llanelli,shows everyone who you really are.
      Now are you protesters going to pay the ÂŁ300,000 bill for Policing the disgraceful thuggery at SPH?
      ans and are you going to compensate the rational law abiding people of this town for the shame you have brought on us all?

    • Cheryl Jones you were not there . Open your eyes . Police caused most of the problems . Hence when it went to court all charges dropped .

    • Suzanne Victoria Thorpe your right I wasn’t there,I didn’t want to be there,we’ve all seen the video’s,and God knows you all made enough,so we all know what went on there,The Police were not to blame,they were only there to protect the building and public from a mob of fascists comitting more crimes,than they already did,a few people got off,bit there have been many suspended sentences and they were for crimes,which are all well documented. Are you all going to pay the ÂŁ300,000 Police bill we have been left with,or not?

    • Suzanne Victoria Thorpe best of luck on that one,I think you’ll find the tides beginning to change and the disturbing rhetoric of Reform is easy to see through,and maybe the people of Llanelli aren’t as stupid as you think they are.

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