By 2015 funding for the advice and legal support sector to provide even a basic level of information, advice and legal support on social welfare law will fall short of the amount required by £100m, experts are warning.

The Low Commission has just published its report into the consequences of the government’s decision to slash civil legal aid funding, which included a cut of £89m a year in legal aid on social welfare law and cuts to local authority advice and legal support funding, estimated at around £40m per year.

The Low Commission was set up by the Legal Action Group in late 2012 and funded by various trusts and corporates to devise a strategy for minimising the effects of these changes.  The Commission sought to develop a fresh approach involving measures to reduce the need for advice and legal support in the first place, as well as inventing more cost-effective services and finding new sources of funding.

It said it is imperative that the next UK and Welsh governments develop their own National Strategy for Advice and Legal Support for 2015 to 2020, preferably with all-party support. 

There should be a minister for advice and legal support within the Ministry of Justice, with a cross-departmental brief, who should lead the development of this strategy.

Local councils should co-produce or commission local advice and legal support plans with local not-for-profit and commercial advice agencies, and these should ensure that face-to-face services are targeted at the most vulnerable.

The Commission estimates that by 2015, once the relevant Act that sanctions the cuts has been implemented, there will be about £400m per year available to fund advice and legal support services. This will come mainly from local authorities, the Money Advice Service, the Big Lottery Fund and the legal aid that remains for social welfare law.

It says that at least a further £100m will be needed to fund even a basic level of support, and calls on the next UK government to provide half of this by setting up a ten-year, £50m National Advice and Legal Support Fund for England and Wales, administered by the Big Lottery Fund.

The Fund should be financed by the MoJ, the Cabinet Office and DWP, and 90 per cent should be used to finance local services, with the remaining 10 per cent for national schemes.

The other half of the funding should be provided by NHS clinical commissioning groups, housing associations, trusts and foundations, and the Money Advice Service – which could itself introduce levies on payday lenders to help cover the costs.  Law firms could also contribute some of the funds held in their dormant client accounts.

The Commission, whose secretary is former Futurebuilders CEO Richard Gutch (pictured), also recommends better education on the subjects of financial literacy and legal rights in schools, and says courts and tribunals should review how they can operate more efficiently.

It says that by adopting these recommendations, the next government can ensure that the public, especially the poor and marginalised, will have access to good-quality, independent legal advice. It hopes that its recommendations will influence the political parties as they write their manifestoes ahead of the 2015 election.