Page 58 - Solving Housing Disputes

urgent need for the Government to draw upon this work and to revisit
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arrangements for publicly funded legal advice and support.
The Legal Support Action Plan

3.7 In 2019, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) released the Post-Implementation Review
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of LASPO (PIR). The PIR was accompanied by the Legal Support Action Plan
(Action Plan) which sets out the MOJ’s plans for publicly funded legal advice and
138
representation. The Action Plan states the Government will explore and
evaluate models for early legal interventions, which includes piloting face-to-face
advice for early interventions in a specific area of “social welfare law” and
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evaluating pre-existing “co-located hubs”. 140 While we welcome exploration of

136 Lady Hale has previously described LASPO cuts as a false economy, Bowcott, ‘Senior judge warns
over ‘shaming’ impact of legal aid cuts’, (Guardian Online, 13 October 2017), available at https://www
.theguardian.com/law/2017/oct/13/senior-judge-warns-over-shaming-impact-of-legal-aid-cuts

137 Part 1 of the PIR focused on funding arrangements for legal aid and advice provision, available at ht
tps://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/777038
/post-implementation-review-of-part-1-of-
laspo.pdf The Action Plan is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/legal-support-
action-plan

138 The Action Plan acknowledged that resourcing constraints meant advice providers had to “reprioritise
their services away from early legal advice towards supporting people once they have reached a crisis
point” and that the reduction in early support has been particularly felt in housing and benefits, where
demand for services remains high, Ministry of Justice, ‘Legal Support: The Way Ahead. An action plan
to deliver better support to people experiencing legal problems’ (February 2019) p. 19 available at https
://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/777036/le
gal-support-the-way-ahead.pdf citing the Law Centres Network (2018), ‘LASPO Act 2012
Post‑Implementation Review Submission from the Law Centres Network’ available at
https://www.lawcentres.org.uk/policy-and-media/papers-and-publications/briefings-and-submissions

139 Ibid MOJ p.23. We met with the MOJ team responsible for these projects in October 2019, and were
told that the piloting will be for early intervention for benefits problems, because they tend to lead to rent
arrears, homelessness and other consequences, with the working hypothesis that early intervention in
benefits problems can reduce the number of cases coming before the County Court for possession claims.

140 Ibid p.24. “Co-located hubs” in the Action Plan describes co-location of multiple support services to
act as a ‘one-stop shop’, for instance a group of third sector support providers or an advice centre that
has a variety of expertise in different areas of social welfare support within health services. Recent
research suggests co-location of advice in a health care setting can lead to improved outcomes for clients
in mental health, housing circumstances and overall wellbeing of individuals compared to those who do
not access the service, Woodhead, Khondoker, Lomas and Raine, ‘Impact of co-located welfare advice
in healthcare setting: prospective quasi-experimental controlled study’ (2017) 211(6) The British Journal
of Psychiatry pp. 388, 392, 394.

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