Vulnerable ‘struggle to challenge councils’ care plans’

VULNERABLE PEOPLE are struggling to challenge care plans put in place by authorities because most councils no longer offer free legal advice, lawyers have warned.

Research by the Law Society suggests 79 per cent of local authorities no longer offer publicly funded legal advice. More than 37m people in England and Wales live in areas where there is not a single community care legal aid service, including 7.5m people aged 65 and over, it is claimed.

This is an estimated 64.8 per cent of the population living in an area where there is no community care legal aid provider, the findings indicate.

The body which represents solicitors in England and Wales has called on the Government to “wake up” to an “impending catastrophe” and “make urgent changes” so everyone who has a right to state-funded legal advice can get it when they need it.

It says its study reveals “catastrophic legal aid deserts for community care across the country” and through an interactive map it has produced, it can show the “vanishing number of providers” in each local authority area.

Law Society president Simon Davis said: “A cared-for person fighting to get vital welfare services or remain in their own home will tell you legal aid is a lifeline.

“But almost two thirds of us live in a local authority area without a single community care legal aid service, so all too often the most vulnerable people – who may be elderly, housebound, disabled – cannot get the expert legal advice they desperately need when their care arrangements fall short.”

He said anyone trying to resolve a care issue is likely to need face-to-face professional advice.