Legal aid cuts force closure of long-running law centre

After 40 years, Lambeth Law Centre in South London is the latest to have been forced to close because of cuts to legal aid funding.

The Lambeth team said in a statement on the Law Centres Network website: “Unfortunately, the law centre has faced financial pressures caused by legal aid cuts and increased operating costs. To some degree this was relieved with generous support from our charitable funders, who have understood the need in the community and helped us address it. However, ultimately the funding shortfall, together with issues with VAT calculations, have put the law centre in an impossible financial position. Having failed to secure emergency funding to keep the law centre going, we were left with no choice but to decide on closure.

“The law centre’s team is working hard to ensure that all current clients are notified and that their cases are transferred to other advisers in the borough or nearby. We also hope that some of our staff will be able to join other law centres or advice agencies.”

The Law Gazette reports that the number of law centres nationwide has been cut in half – from 94 to 47 – since the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act came into effect in 2013, which removed much of civil law from the scope of legal aid. This has left many areas of England and Wales where there is little to no legal advice or representation available to the most vulnerable.