Government Silences Workers Over Injury Claims

The changes being brought in by Ken Clarke on behalf of the Con-Dem(ned) coalition government will sure up the government’s attacks on health and safety protection for the workers of England and Wales by removing any ability for the majority at work to pursue compensation in cases of injury and death at work.

Major government reforms intended to cut the legal aid bill by £350m a year by 2015 will deny many workers injured or made ill by their work access to justice, unions have warned. The proposals announced by justice secretary Kenneth Clarke will dramatically reduce access to legal support, with employment and personal injury costs on the government hit list, said TUC Risks.

The government’s £81 billion worth of cuts announced in the comprehensive spending review last month will heighten the need for the very legal services which are now for the chop – according to Unite in a press release they issued in response to the announcement of the changes in legal aid  criteria made last week.
 
The weak, the vulnerable and the disadvantaged will pay the price for the coalition’s planned ‘reforms’ of the legal aid system in England and Wales.

Rachael Maskell, Unite national officer for the not for profit sector, said: ”What Ken Clarke has done today is to silence the voices of the weak in British society in a brutal bid to reduce his department’s budget by 23 per cent over the next four years.”
 
Unite said that the plans announced by justice secretary,  Kenneth Clarke, last week would deny access to the legal aid system for those seeking help on debt, education, employment, immigration, housing, social welfare and family cases.

TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson is reported by TUC Risks to have said that personal injury system already worked in favour of defendants, pointing out claims had fallen dramatically in recent years and only a minority of those with a genuine case actually pursue compensation.

He is quoted as adding: “Workers rights to compensation are being attacked on all fronts. When 'no win no fee' arrangements for personal injury claims were introduced the government slashed access to legal aid, saying that it was no longer needed. Now, however, they are both reducing workers ability to access no win no fee arrangements and at the same time cutting legal aid even further.”

Source: TUC Risks / Unite

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