Law Society campaign briefing: The future of criminal legal aid
The Law Society are calling for your help to support our campaign for the future of criminal legal aid. As you may know, the Government published its response to the Independent Review of Criminal Legal Aid in March. The proposals fall far short of what is needed to secure the future of our criminal legal aid system, putting forward 40% less investment than CLAIR recommended.
Please find the campaign briefing here. You can also get in touch with your local MP to urge them to raise this critical issue in Parliament. You can find a template letter here that you can customize and send to your MP and have also included a campaign briefing outlining the issues with the Government’s proposals. You can also see how badly affected your area is by the ageing of the solicitor profession here.
The Law Society will be responding to the Government’s ongoing consultation and are encouraging all solicitors to put their views forward as well. You can respond here – the consultation will be open until 7 June. After 25 years of cuts, our criminal justice system is in crisis. The Government must not miss this opportunity to put it on a stable footing and secure the future of criminal legal aid.