April is the
cruellest month
Breeding lilacs out
of the dead land
TS Eliot
I was at a meeting yesterday with various advice agencies
discussing the problem of what happens to those in need after April 1st
when Legal Aid is wiped out for many areas of work. Waste Land
Advice on welfare benefits is removed entirely from the
scope of legal aid. The Liverpool Citizens’ Advice Bureaux have been among the
leading providers of advice in this field. In the last few years they have been
able to assist 2500 people in debt cases and 6270 people with welfare rights
issues. That is a total of 8770 people is the direst of need. After 1st
April they will be able to advise…. None. Of course their dedicated workers do
not want to let people down and many will continue help clients on a voluntary
basis. But the reality is that thousands of our most vulnerable are going to be
deprived of professional advice and assistance.
The much derided Bedroom Tax is an example of the hardship
that might be caused. This is the draconian measure that will see the poorest
tenants have their Housing Benefit reduced if they have too many rooms. Under
the rules mixed sex siblings are expected to share rooms, some disabled tenants
will be penalised if they have double occupancy and parents who share residence
of children will have to choose which one is allowed the extra room. It is one
of the most heartless attacks on he poor imaginable. I recently heard Minister
Iain Duncan Smith trying to defend by saying it was designed to ‘help’ people
move into more suitable accommodation. The reality is that tenants on the
breadline will lose income but still be liable for the same rent. So they will
go into arrears. Then they face eviction. And at the time that they most need
legal help the government is taking away their right to legal aid. To make
matters worse, most experts say that there so called ‘suitable accommodation’ doesn’t
exist.
This is just one example.
The county’s most Senior Judge – Lord Neuberger who is head
of the Supreme Court has recently spoken of the social danger of these
policies. He has said openly what most of think – “that those frustrated
by an inability to seek justice would take the law into their own hands".
These are policies from a government
that is committing to spending billions on a nuclear deterrent to save us from
a threat which is largely fanciful while allowing its own most needy citizens
to pay the cost.
Many lawyers will provide free
advice to save the suffering of the worst.
But that will only be a sticking
plaster until these cuts are reversed. And the sooner the better.
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