Alexander: Civil justice in no way plays second fiddle
The government would like to see more pre-action initiatives like the Official Injury Claim portal as part of its vision for the future of civil justice, minister Heidi Alexander said today.
But after addressing the Civil Justice Council’s National Forum on Access to Justice in London, Ms Alexander was promoted to transport secretary.
In her speech, which would have been written by officials, she laid out five core principles for the future of civil justice and stressed that the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) did not see it as “the poor relation of criminal justice”.
Though the focus of the Labouwr government to date has been on criminal justice, such as prison overcrowding and prosecuting rioters, that was because of “a very acute problem that needed urgent input”.
The now former courts and legal services minister noted that a third of adults experienced at least one civil, administrative or family problem over the course of 18 months, while the Federation of Small Businesses estimated that the inability to resolve disputes cost the economy £11.6bn a year, “so I’m very clear and this government is very clear that civil justice in no way plays second fiddle”.
Ms Alexander said – somewhat ironically in light of what happened in the minutes after her speech – that, by the time she left her post, “I’d like to do so having helped to make it cheaper, easier and more straightforward for normal people, your average person on the street, the small business owner to access justice.
“And in doing so, to realise the full potential of our civil justice system as a powerful engine for economic growth and social progress”.
She set out five principles for the civil justice system that would guide the government’s approach, the first being “access to justice for all”.
“But I won’t pretend that today’s challenges are easy. Civil legal aid remains under immense pressure. The tail of LASPO is long, advice services are oversubscribed and are struggling to meet rising demand. And yet, as we all know, the legal aid system is the very cornerstone of our justice system.”
Ahead of the forum, the government announced plans for £20m extra for housing, debt and immigration legal aid.
Ms Alexander said: “I see it as one of my fundamental responsibilities to nurse the legal aid sector back to health… We will improve the experience of users and providers. If we fail to do this, we won’t be doing our job properly.”
The second principle was to look at justice “more broadly, whether in court, out of court or with the use of digital tools”.
She explained: “We want a system that allows people to get the right support to resolve their legal issues fairly at the right time, ideally as early as possible in a way that works for them. We want a system that people can understand because, if we’re honest, we don’t have one at the moment.”
This meant also encouraging “good-quality, early legal advice and support and alternative dispute resolution”.
This could mean expanding mediation in certain disputes. Compulsory mediation for money claims worth up to £10,000 was introduced in May and “we’re now looking at what the policy should be for higher-value claims too”.
Ms Alexander went on: “If cases do proceed to court, we want to explore the development of more pre-action services similar to the Official Injury Claim portal, which has seen nearly 900,000 low value road traffic accident cases registered in three years since its launch.
“Though the default shouldn’t be for the government to develop these pre-action services. We’re very keen to work with you and the private sector to drive forward initiatives.”
The third principle was that “the future is digital”, so that people could access legal services online “in the way we all access other services such as banking and shopping”.
“Digital dispute resolution is of course far swifter and cheaper for those involved, but it benefits wider justice system too… [but] you also need to make sure that in our push for reform we aren’t leaving people behind digitally.”
The minister acknowledged the lengthy delays in cases reaching a hearing in the county court, so the fourth principle “has to be improving efficiency across the system”.
“Digital services are already playing their part here for online civil money claims. The time taken from the issue of a claim to a standard directions order (SDO) being issued is nine weeks compared to 30 weeks for non-reform claims. In damages claims, the time taken from issue of a claim to an SDO being drawn is 13 weeks compared to 37 weeks for non-reform cases.”
She added that the MoJ and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government was working on a new “end-to-end digital service” for resolving possession claims in the county court.
So the fifth principle was to “harness the power of tech to make sure our courts and legal services are modern fit for the future and remain the global gold standard”.
The CJC is currently reviewing litigation funding at the behest of the previous government. Ms Alexander said: “We believe that third-party litigation funding plays a critical role in enabling access to justice and, as a government, we want to make sure it’s fair for all.
“I know there are some who would like us to simply pick up where the previous government left off in legislating in response to the PACCAR judgment, but we are clear that we want to consider this issue carefully and holistically.”
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