Statement on Ten Years of LASPO

6 April 2023

This month marks ten years of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (“LASPO”) being in force. Before LASPO legal aid was available for almost all areas of law. Overnight, LASPO excluded large areas of the law from legal aid. To name but a few areas, legal aid became unavailable for most issues relating to debt and welfare, employment, and most private family law.  For those areas that remained, LASPO restricted the specific types of cases where legal aid would be eligible and tightened the rules around eligibility for legal aid, excluding many on low incomes who were previously eligible.

To mark ten years of LASPO, Young Legal Aid Lawyers have released a statement deploring the impact that LASPO has had on access to legal advice, stressing the need for repeal and reform, and urging legal aid lawyers to come together, organise and fight for the survival of the public service we are committed to.

Read our full statement below.