The Office of the Children’s Commissioner has published a report on the impact of Legal Aid changes on children since April 2013 focusing on participation work with children and young people. Key points include:
- The majority of interviewees in their study did not know that the issue they faced was, capable of being resolved by recourse to the law and many discovered this only after chance encounters and subsequent referrals to legal advice projects, sometimes years after first encountering the issue.
- The majority of interviewees did not know that they could access Legal Aid or even that Legal Aid existed.
- Interviewees were unable to resolve their cases without legal support and litigation, despite repeated attempts to do so unsupported.
- Alternative remedies were only effective and appropriate in limited circumstances.
- Being a litigant in person had a negative impact on proceedings as well as a long term impact on wellbeing.
- Without legal intervention, those exercising public functions would have been likely to continue to fail to undertake their duties towards young people; it took recourse to law to force local authorities and others to meet their statutory duties towards often extremely vulnerable children and young adults.
- Where Legal Aid had been removed, children and young adults relied upon charitable donations and pro bono legal projects in order to access necessary legal support
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