The UK’s legal aid system is in crisis. Cuts to legal aid have left many unable to access justice and the reality is stark: over half of people seeking asylum last year couldn’t find a legal aid lawyer. Entire regions of the UK have become “legal aid deserts” where no advice is available. Without proper legal support, many individuals are forced to navigate the complex asylum system alone, leaving them suck in limbo for long periods of time, at risk of removal, and creating greater knock-on costs for local authorities and the wider community.
In every part of England and Wales there is a significant deficit between the need for immigration and asylum legal advice and the provision available. In South Yorkshire specifically, 2 out of 5 legal aid firms have stopped delivering legal aid immigration services, as of June 2023, and the other three have no capacity. Aside from the Multi-Agency Drop-In, that City of Sanctuary Sheffield facilitate, there is no simple to access, face-to-face immigration advice available in Sheffield.
We’re calling for change. We invite you to read the new joint briefing from JCWI and 67 other organisations highlighting the urgent need for legal aid reform.
The Ministry of Justice’s ongoing ‘Review of Civil Legal Aid’ is an opportunity to bring about this change based on the expertise and recommendations shared from across the civil legal aid sector.
Our key calls for action include:
• Cross-departmental solutions to a cross-departmental issue – overhaul the hostile approach to migration policy-making thereby decreasing reliance on legal aid.
• Ensure those in need of legal aid can access it – expand the scope of cases covered by legal aid to what it was before 2012.
• Urgently increase legal aid fee rates to ensure practitioners are paid for their work and to avoid knock-on costs elsewhere.
• End ‘legal aid deserts’ – ensure that there are legal aid providers available across the country, not just in certain regions.
In Sheffield, we have initiated a collaborative project with ASSIST and South Yorkshire Refugee Law and Justice, called the “Sheffield Legal Advice Solidarity Project”. Our shared vision is to build a strong and thriving sector of legal advice organisations that can deliver justice for the community of migrants at risk of human rights abuses.
We believe that this will be achieved by funding service delivery within the city to deliver legal advice and representation for migrants at risk of human rights abuses that is high quality, accountable, and sustainable.
We need your help to amplify our voices and demand change. Please email your MP today to urge them to address the crisis in legal aid. You can find your MP here: Find Your MP
You can use this email template to contact your MP:
Dear ____ MP,
I am writing regarding the ongoing crisis in access to justice. I am a supporter of ASSIST, City of Sanctuary Sheffield and South Yorkshire Refugee Law and Justice, based in Sheffield. Legal aid is an essential system for making sure that people can claim their rights. But legal aid rates haven’t increased since 1996, meaning it’s simply not financially possible for many providers to offer.
For migrants in the UK, this has disastrous consequences. Too many people have to navigate a complex and punitive immigration system without the support of a lawyer – last year, over half of people seeking asylum in the UK did so without a legal aid lawyer.
Urgent change is needed, so that millions of people shut out of access to justice can claim their rights. Please read this joint briefing, signed by 66 organisations working with migrants: https://jcwi.org.uk/resource/joint-briefing-immigration-legal-aid/
Please read the briefing, and meet with [name of organisation] to discuss the ongoing legal aid crisis, how it affects the people they work with, and what needs to change.
Yours faithfully,
Together, we can create a fair and humane asylum system that truly supports those in need.