Southall Black Sisters victorious in Legal Aid Bill row

Just a month after proposing changes to the Legal Aid Bill, the government has been forced to make a u-turn on its decision to deny abused migrant women access to legal aid.

Last week, Legal Aid minister Jonathan Djanogly MP confirmed in parliament that he would bring cases under the "domestic violence rule" under the immigration regime back into the scope of legal aid.

This will allow people who are on spouse or partner visa to leave violent or abusive relationships and apply for indefinite leave to remain in this country.

The decision came on the back of some strong lobbying by campaigners including the Southall Black Sisters (SBS), who took legal action against the government claiming it was unlawful and discriminatory.

SBS believe it is a victory for those who work with abused women who have insecure immigration status and who need to seek legal advice and representation to make applications to remain in the UK in order to secure protection.

Back in June, Justice Secretary Ken Clarke made a number of proposals to reduce around £300m from the £2.1bn legal aid bill.

Mr Clarke proposed to end legal aid in a number of areas including private family law and non-detention immigration.

Clarke did add that domestic violence cases would still receive legal aid and intended to expand the definition to include mental and sexual abuse.
But the proposals were questioned and opposed by many including Lady Hale, the only female Justice on the Supreme Court.

Lady Hale highlighted that the impact of the cuts would have a disproportionate effect upon the poorest and most vulnerable in society.

With grave concerns, SBS launched a legal challenge on July 4 against the decision to remove non-detention immigration from the scope of legal aid.
SBS sent a letter to the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) setting out their case and requesting an immediate response.

In the letter, they argued that the decision to remove legal aid was unlawful as it treated abused migrant women, who are amongst some of the most vulnerable and marginalised groups in society, in an unfavourable and highly discriminatory manner and the decision was in breach of race, gender and disability discrimination law.
Also, the MOJ did not carry out a proper Equality Impact Assessment (EIA). The EIA that was conducted was shoddy and unsatisfactory.

There was no regard to the importance of the issues at stake, including the vulnerability and circumstances of the women and their ability to prepare and present their own cases.

This may have prompted the government to think again and change their decision, with Mr Djanogly stating,

Although we accepted that the applicants in such cases were vulnerable, we did not think, on balance, that legal aid was required, essentially because the applications, similar to other immigrant applications, were paper-based. We recognised that people might need assistance with obtaining the required documentary evidence, but we considered that such assistance need not be specialist legal assistance funded by legal aid. After further consideration, however, we accept that such cases are unusual. There is a real risk that, without legal aid, people will stay trapped in abusive relationships out of fear of jeopardising their immigration status.

He also said,

The type of trauma that they might have suffered will often make it difficult to cope with such applications. We also appreciate that people apply under great pressure of time, and access to a properly designated immigration adviser is a factor. We intend to table a Government amendment to bring such cases into scope at a later stage.

But despite the reversal, SBS are still seeking further clarification and want to know whether or not abused women who need to make applications outside of the Domestic Violence Rule will also qualify for legal aid.

They are also asking for all women including trafficked women and migrant domestic workers to also be included in the scope of legal aid as the protection and equality principles must also apply to these vulnerable groups of women.

Please click here for further information on the Southall Black Sisters

Zohaib Rashid