April 2013
What: The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) comes into effect, introducing funding cuts to legal aid, meaning fewer people can access legal advice. LASPO (and the regulations made under it) restricts financial eligibility for legal aid and removes many areas of civil law from its scope, including family, employment and welfare benefits law. A review of the impact of LASPO carried out by The Law Society in 2017 would find that legal aid was no longer available for many who needed it; that those eligible for legal aid found it harder to access; that wide gaps in provision were not being addressed; and that LASPO had a negative impact on the state and society.
Why significant: The removal of access to legal support denies victims of austerity and welfare reform recourse to justice.