Under the Freedom of Information Act, PLP, acting on behalf of an individual, has obtained information from the Home Office which reveals that a visit by its officials to Eritrea in December 2014 was made with the specific objective of securing a reduction in the grant rate of Eritrean asylum claims, which at the time was over 85%.
The Bach Commission on Access to Justice has today published its interim report into legal aid. PLP submitted evidence to the Commission, which has found that individuals are being denied access to justice and that LASPO has produced a “crisis in the justice system”. The report identifies a number of factors that have contributed to this, including the failings of the exceptional funding scheme and the gateway telephone service.
PLP is concerned about the accessibility of the Home Office disregard scheme and appeal process, which does not appear to be meeting its intended aim of allowing the thousands of men in this situation get convictions removed from their records.
The Legal Aid Agency has this week conceded that it must not ‘seek to rely on the clause to stifle criticism of, or challenges to, the Legal Aid Agency, the Lord Chancellor, or wider government.’
Public Law Project has outlined serious concerns on behalf of clients about the LAA’s new ’embarrassment clause’. The LAA has introduced the clause in its latest standard crime contract tender and it may be incorporated into civil contracts. Breach can lead to sanctions or contract termination, as is considered ‘proportionate’.
The Public Law Project is pleased to announce that Sara Lomri will be joining us as our Deputy Legal Director. Sara will take up the newly created post in November.
The Supreme Court has today handed down judgment in the Public Law Project’s challenge to the government’s proposed ‘residence test’ for civil legal aid. The proposed ‘residence test’ would have denied access to justice to the many people unable to show that they met its requirements. On 18 April 2016, at the end of the first day of the hearing, a seven-Justice Supreme Court had unanimously allowed the Public Law Project’s challenge to the test, accepting our argument that the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (“LASPO”) did not give the Lord Chancellor the power to introduce regulations that would exclude a group of people from civil legal aid on the basis of ‘residence.’
PLP is pleased to announce that Alison Pickup will be joining us as our Legal Director. Alison will come to PLP from Doughty Street Chambers, where she has established a highly regarded practice acting for the vulnerable and dispossessed.
Yesterday a seven-Justice Supreme Court unanimously allowed the Public Law Project’s challenge to the Government’s proposed residence test for civil legal aid, reversing the judgment of the Court of Appeal.
Press release British courts have today upheld the rule of law. For ten years the Algerian Government has refused any independent international monitoring of its secret prisons, in a climate where many other countries have accepted this as a necessity for a modern democracy. Algeria’s refusal to agree to such monitoring, despite the best efforts
The Supreme Court has expedited the case to be heard on 18 and 19 April 2016.
In a case brought by the Public Law Project on behalf of the charity Rights of Women, the Court of Appeal has ruled that evidence requirements which have been operating to prevent survivors of domestic abuse from getting legal aid for family cases are unlawful.