The GMLC grew out of a protest against cuts to services offering free legal advice and representation. In recent years the right to legal aid has been subject to permanent assault by successive governments. As a result people have been left without advice and support when they need it most, putting them at the risk of poverty, homelessness and unemployment. On this page you can find out all the latest news from the struggle to restore legal aid.
We have a monthly column in the Law Society Messenger. You can see the full February edition here. This month, GMLC volunteer Lily Lewis gives her perspective of the impact of Legal Aid on her work. Lily Lewis is a volunteer with Greater Manchester Law Centre’s Legal Advocacy Support Project. She is currently studying…
With: Richard Burgon MP, Shadow Justice Secretary and GMLC Patrons Maxine Peake and Robert Lizar Join us for the Greater Manchester Law Centre manifesto launch 11th April 2019, 6-8pm, Thompsons Solicitors, 55 King Street, Manchester, M2 4LQ Access to legal advice, representation and justice can empower people, reduce homelessness and poverty, challenge the hostile environment against…
The Greater Manchester Law Centre (GMLC) has called for “urgent action” following national and local news coverage of the ‘decimation’ of Legal Aid[1], and has reviewed the impact on Greater Manchester specifically. Volunteers at GMLC reviewed the Legal Aid statistics published by Ministry of Justice and Legal Aid Agency, which indicate that the number of…
Legal aid ‘decimated’ This week, one of the nation’s top news stories is a topic too often overlooked: the decimation of the Legal aid advice network. Legal disputes affect our homes, our families, our treatment as employees and more. They affect our very survival, for example when unwell or disabled people are left destitute after being…
This article by our chair, John Nicholson, was featured in Counsel Magazine, the monthly journal of the Bar of England and Wales. Extraordinary Working Lives: John Nicholson Free-access-to-justice campaigner John Nicholson recounts a day in the life as a legal aid lawyer operating in the hostile environment Waking in the early hours. Anxious…
We are pleased to announce that article below features in a two-page spread by Julia Baskerville in this month’s Law Society Messenger, and we will have our own monthly column from December onwards. Greater Manchester Law Centre opened its doors in Moss Side in August 2016 and was officially ‘launched’ in February 2017.…
We are pleased to be the focus of a feature article by Nick Nicholas Prescott in The Meteor, Manchester’s Independent Media, on the topic of Legal Aid and the wider context of austerity. With their permission we are publishing the full article here: How austerity is killing legal aid and restricting access to justice We often see…
A report published last week by the Joint Committee on Human Rights, Enforcing Human Rights, highlighted “grave concerns for access to justice, the rule of law, and enforcement of human rights in the UK” caused by cuts,[1] making enforcement of human rights “simply unaffordable” for some of the most vulnerable people.[2] The chair of the…
At the end of June this year, anti-poverty charity Zacchaeus 2000 Trust (Z2K) published a new report showing how the Government’s harsh policies are preventing disabled and unwell people from getting the disability payments they are entitled to. Mandatory Reconsideration When claimants are wrongly denied benefits after their assessment, they can have decision reviewed by requesting a Mandatory…
by GMLC Volunteer Joe Payne Law Centres Federation Limited v the Lord Chancellor [2018] EWHC 1588 (Admin) A recent High Court decision was deservingly won by the Law Centres Network (LCN) in a challenge to the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ) Legal Aid policy, via Judicial Review. Judicial Review is a legal challenge to the way a…