Advice bureau staff face axe

UP to a third of Citizen’s Advice Bureau staff at Warrington could be made redundant if Government proposals to slash the legal aid budget go ahead, it is claimed.
This will have a devastating effect on the service in the borough at a time when demand for advice has never been higher, according to CAB manager Steve Cullen.
His warning came in a report to the borough council’s Neighbour and Communities scrutiny committee
The Government is proposing to stop legal aid funded advice in the areas of debt, welfare benefits, employment and most areas of housing law.
Also, the capital threshold for qualifying for legal aid will be tightened so that anyone with £1,000 of savings will now no longer qualify for free legal advice.
Nearly 1,000 people in Warrington who currently benefit from legal aid advice will now miss out, Mr Cullen said.
The loss of the expertise of up to a third of paid staff will impact heavily on the support available to the CAB’s team of volunteer advisers.
Coun Mike Hannon, (pictured) Labour councillor for Orford, one of Warrington’s most deprived wards, said: “Cutting legal aid funding for these basic areas of advice will hit the most vulnerable people in society the most and access to justice, something that makes our society fairer, could soon be the reserved for just the rich.
“According to the RNID, 85 per cent of people over 65 years old they surveyed had their claim for attendance allowance reinstated after going to tribunal and in the vast majority of cases they benefited from the help of a legal adviser.
” Benefits law is very complicated and how can our older population be expected to prepare their own tribunal papers? More and more older people will miss out on much needed income to help them get by and have a decent standard of life.”
Coun Hitesh Patel, Labour councillor for Great Sankey South, said:
“What makes these proposals so bizarre is that many of Warrington’s hard working families who find themselves unfairly sacked from work will not be able to afford the £150 per hour fees a solicitor would charge to enforce their basic statutory employment rights.
“They’ll struggle to pay their bills, end up in debt but not be able to get free debt advice and they will then risk being evicted from their homes unless they get housing advice. Rather than saving money, this will end up costing the local taxpayer more because councils have a statutory duty to re-house anyone threatened with homelessness.”
More information about Government proposals to change the legal aid system can be found on the Ministry of Justice website www.justice.gov.uk where people can also register their views and feed into the consultation process.