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updated on 03 January 2020
The UK’s most senior judge, Baroness Hale, has guest edited a special episode of the BBC’s Today programme, telling listeners that cuts to legal aid funding have caused “serious difficulty” to the justice system.
In 2013, the government introduced funding cuts of £350 million a year to the civil justice system, which Hale said has had a severe impact on family cases. Pointing out that most people need legal advice at the start of a court case, she said: “It's unreasonable to expect a husband and wife or mother and father who are in crisis in their personal relationship to make their own arrangements without help.”
The BBC has reported that over a million fewer legal aid cases are being processed every year since the cuts, a situation which has led to “advice deserts” across swathes of the country.
Hale retires from her role as president of the Supreme Court this month, when she reaches 75 – the mandatory retirement age for judges appointed before 1995.