Access to justice and the role of parliamentarians: What happens to those who fall through the justice gap?

Newman, Daniel ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3735-1026 and Robins, Jon 2024. Access to justice and the role of parliamentarians: What happens to those who fall through the justice gap? Legal Studies 44 (2) , pp. 221-241. 10.1017/lst.2023.19

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Abstract

This is the first academic paper to consider the role that parliamentarians play in access to justice. Under austerity, England and Wales has seen cuts to legal aid and local authority budgets that have impacted the ability of people to get help for legal problems in social welfare law from the advice sector. Members of the UK Parliament and Members of the Senedd Cymru are increasingly being called upon by their constituents to fill the resultant gap in advice. This paper draws on interviews with parliamentarians that draw out the nature of the role they are now playing in access to justice across three key areas of civil justice; welfare benefits, housing and immigration. The growth of parliamentarians as figures in access to justice has thus far been largely neglected but is crucial to grasp as the implications for the future of access to justice are massive. The paper calls for more research to better understand the phenomena but urges caution that elected representatives should not be considered as an adequate substitute for a properly functioning, adequately funded advice sector.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Law
Subjects:	K Law > K Law (General)
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
ISSN:	0261-3875
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	27 April 2023
Date of Acceptance:	26 April 2023
Last Modified:	07 Oct 2024 12:44
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/159079

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