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There is a financial case for reversing legal aid cuts – as well as a human one
We have seen the impacts of a lack of legal aid for housing crisis in real life. Politicians need to realise that ensuring tenants have good advice makes financial as well as moral sense, writes Andy Winter
I was pleased to see the recent Inside Housing front page story on legal aid.
Those of us involved in housing advice and representation funded through legal aid do not need any convincing about the impact of the freeze in payment levels (going back 20 years or more) or the reduction in scope and volumes as a result of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO), which came into effect in 2013.
Few, if any, politicians will not be moved by the plight of a family facing homelessness or living in temporary or emergency accommodation. What to do about the situation is more divisive.
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I am not sure whether talk of cuts to funding and the reduction in the volume of cases speaks a language that will resonate in government. What will resonate is a different narrative.
In 2018/19, through Brighton Housing Trust’s (BHT) advice centres in Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings, we prevented 775 households from becoming homeless.
The Greater Manchester cost-benefit analysis model estimates that the average fiscal cost to the public purse of a ‘complex’ eviction is £7,770, and £880 for a ‘simple’ repossession.
If, for illustrative purposes, two-thirds of BHT’s cases were ‘simple’ and one third ‘complex’, our prevention work has saved the public purse £2,459,000.
In 2018/19, we received £768,000 in legal aid and £154,000 from local government. For every £1 invested, we produced £2.67 in savings.
We are not in a position to quantify other indirect costs resulting from evictions – loss of tax revenues, school absenteeism, increased mental health and substance misuse problems, and so on.
But a direct saving of £1.5m from preventing evictions should float the boat of any and all politicians.
And none of this reflects the benefits to the households who do not lose their homes.
Andy Winter, chief executive, Brighton Housing Trust