Legal Aid Required for Welfare Claimants

By Samuel Miller

The DWP's six-point plan for dealing with suicidal claimants who have been denied welfare payments is proof that the DWP ministers know that their draconian welfare reforms are killing people. The Tories are at war with the poor and the low waged. Not only are benefit cuts driving people to think of killing themselves, but low wages and welfare sanctions are making people ill, shortening people's lives.

Benefit claimants are being pushed to the brink of suicide—and beyond—and they need more assistance than merely contacting the Samaritans. They urgently need to have their benefits reinstated, and that requires a reversal of the Legal Aid cuts to ensure that their legal and human rights are respected.

As you know, an avalanche of welfare reforms implemented by the Government has resulted in Legal Aid being scrapped for the majority of UK welfare benefits cases. Benefit claimants need a fully funded Legal Aid system in order to properly appeal their cases to Tribunals because their very lives are now at stake.