Government proposals to cut legal aid come at a time when the benefits system is being reconfigured from the ground up: vulnerable people will pay the price as legal aid funding and free expert advice disappears

The new Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill has troubling implications, according to Alice Forbess, who argues that the bill eliminates legal aid cover for areas of the law that disproportionately affect vulnerable people, including social welfare, clinical negligence, employment tribunals, special education needs and much of immigration and asylum. Particularly worrying is the fact that these drastic cuts are to be implemented alongside the Welfare Reform Bill, which will restructure the benefits system from the ground up and is expected to temporarily heighten the need for essential legal advice.