Government ‘ignoring’ calls to change funding at inquests, campaigners claim

Widespread calls for change to legal aid funding for inquests are being “ignored” by Government, campaigners have claimed.

Cuts to legal aid funding in civil cases have made it harder for families to get funding for legal representation when their loved one’s death is subject to an inquest, lawyers said.

In 2015 a High Court ruling said more bereaved families should get legal aid at inquests if the state was involved.

A review of legal aid for inquests by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), published in February, said: “The Government is determined to ensure that bereaved families are properly supported and able to participate in the inquest process.”

But lawyers claim families are still being subjected to rigorous and intrusive means testing probing their finances – particularly the value of life savings and treasured family heirlooms – and several funding applications are being wrongly rejected.

Alongside a “culture of refusal” towards applications, the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) has also been accused of incompetence in handling paperwork – with factual errors made in assessments and the details of cases routinely mixed up in correspondence.

Ben Bennett, whose 19-year-old daughter Sophie was found hanged in 2016 at a west London psychiatric facility deemed “unsafe and chaotic”, said his funding battle with the LAA ahead of her inquest was “horrific” and the system was “crass and cruel”.

Before she died she described the psychiatric facility as being run “like a boot camp”.

The Richmond Psychosocial Foundation International (RPFI), which runs the care home, is being investigated by the Charity Commission after an inquest found its leadership was “grossly inadequate” and it was deemed “chaotic and unsafe”.

The LAA eventually agreed to subsidise the cost of lawyers but Mr Bennett still had to pay £2,500.

Mr Bennett said: “The assessment was error strewn, the process was laborious and bureaucratic.

“They are not transparent on how decisions are made.

“Thank goodness we did have legal representation. I can’t even contemplate how the inquest would have been if we didn’t have a barrister. I think it would have pushed me over the edge.

“If we hadn’t pushed for it, it would have all been swept under the carpet.

“It’s only families that have a real determination and resilience to find out the truth in these proceedings.

“Our daughter is dead, no-one can bring her back.

“It’s about the system acknowledging failings and learning lessons.”

Richard Miller, head of legal aid at the Law Society for England and Wales, criticised the general assumption from Government that families do not need legal representation at inquests while state bodies are all funded by the public purse and have lawyers “trying to defend their reputation”.

Deborah Coles, director of INQUEST a charity which supports families facing such proceedings and has launched a campaign on legal aid funding, said: “In the last six months we have gone backwards.

“Families are forced to try and fight for funding with intrusive and protracted applications while they are grieving.

“It is stressful at an already painful time.”

Having provided a body of evidence to the MoJ’s recent review of the system, she said campaigners felt “utterly betrayed” when the findings were published and the “widespread call for change” was rejected.

She added: “There is a groundswell of support for non-means tested funding and parity of funding.”

She said the “preventative potential” of inquests is underestimated as well as the ability of grieving relatives to navigate complex legal proceedings without support, adding: “Families have a vested interested in exposing harmful practices and trying to bring about change.”

Merry Varney, head of the inquest team at Leigh Day solicitors who represented the family of Molly Russell, said the Ministry of Justice response to the crisis was “woefully poor” and there was an overall “culture of refusal” at the LAA.

The agency originally denied funding for the inquest into the death of the 14-year-old who killed herself in 2017 after viewing disturbing material online because the matter “was not of wider public interest”.

Ms Varney said it was “frankly unbelievable” the LAA could not see the wider public importance in the case, saying the current system “makes a mockery” of the whole principle, adding: “It’s a really awful state of affairs.”

Both Ms Coles and Ms Varney said funding is often granted on appeal by the Legal Aid Agency after media coverage of rejected bids in high-profile cases.

A spokesman for the MoJ said: “”Inquests can be an incredibly emotive process for the relatives of those who have died and the victims involved have our utmost sympathies.

“Our review of inquests found that, rather than apportion blame in an adversarial way, inquests are designed to establish the truth and learn lessons, meaning legal representation is not necessary in all cases.

“Despite this, we are making improvements to guidance to improve understanding and awareness of the availability of legal aid for inquests to ensure families are better supported.”

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