On Wednesday, 10 June the High Court will begin hearing a judicial review with far reaching implications for the ongoing implementation of the Government’s legal aid cuts. PLP has been instructed by the Official Solicitor to the Senior Courts (2), on behalf of a vulnerable individual, ‘IS’, in a ‘systemic challenge’ to the operation of the Exceptional Case Funding (ECF) scheme, established by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.
The ECF scheme was said by the government to protect the rights of vulnerable and incapacitated individuals who cannot represent themselves and need the services of a lawyer, and who would otherwise be denied access to justice. It is the Claimant’s position that the operation of the scheme, by the Lord Chancellor and the Legal Aid Agency, is unlawful in that it obstructs the very purpose of the legislation – to provide legal aid funding to those who need it most.
