Abolition of the Legal Services Commmission welcomed by Unite

8 March 2010

The proposed abolition of the Legal Services Commission (LSC), which funds the distribution of legal aid, has been welcomed by Unite, the largest union in the country.

Unite approves of the abolition, proposed in the recent Magee Report, as it believes that the new organisation to replace it will be more efficient in supporting the ever-increasing demands on legal aid services. The new body will be an executive agency of the ministry of justice.

Rachael Maskell, Unite national officer, Community and Non Profit Sector, said: 'Law centres and other independent specialist advice agencies have been under mounting pressure to meet increasing client demand with the precarious funding streams currently in place.'

'The focus of social welfare advice has to be the service user, not the funder which is there to support the service. In recent times the LSC has moved from servant to master.'

'Under the LSC, the funding mechanisms mean that work is not adequately costed which leads to the workforce having to work all hours in this stressful environment in order to meet the contract demands, while still ending up with a financial deficit.'

'Unite hopes that the new body, which will be more 'in-house', will be more efficient and proactive in funding the reorganisation of legal aid.'

'Unite will be campaigning to ensure that the new body, yet to be established, will work closer with other government departments and service providers to guarantee that our social welfare support is as much about supporting the most vulnerable in our society as is about preventing adverse situations occurring in the first place.'

'We hope that there is an opportunity to develop a real dialogue about the arrangements and to ensure that communities can access the services that they so badly need.'

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