The government has admitted that legal aid for disability benefits cases has plummeted by 99% since George Osborne imposed massive cuts on the legal aid system in 2013.

The figures show that in 2011-2012 there were 29,801 cases in which claimants got legal help in connection with disability benefits.

However, in the period 2016-2017, this had plummeted to just 308 cases.

Claimants who get as far as a tribunal have continued to win in the vast majority of cases even without legal help.

However, there is no doubt that many sick and disabled claimants have to give up before ever getting to a hearing because of the effect on their health of the stress and huge amount of work involved in preparing a case.

Others win, but at enormous personal costs in terms of physical and emotional wellbeing.

Comments

Write comments...
or post as a guest
Loading comment... The comment will be refreshed after 00:00.

Be the first to comment.

Free PIP, ESA & UC Updates!

Delivered Fortnightly

Over 110,000 claimants and professionals subscribe to the UK's leading source of benefits news.

 
iContact
We use cookies

We use cookies on our website. Some of them are essential for the operation of the site, while others help us to improve this site and the user experience (tracking cookies). You can decide for yourself whether you want to allow cookies or not. Please note that if you reject them, you may not be able to use all the functionalities of the site.