MPs overwhelmed by casework must insist the justice and advice sector is properly funded
Citizens Advice Bureau in London | Image by: Alex Segre / Alamy
4 min read
In my constituency office, expressions of despair and even suicidal ideation were so common that the toll on staff was impossible to ignore
Once, MPs were distant figures in their constituencies. In his autobiography, Roy Hattersley recalls the first election hustings he attended in 1951, during which the Labour candidate George Darling responds to his predecessor’s reputation as an absentee MP by promising to visit every three months and “make himself available for assistance and advice” on the Saturday.
Today, such fleeting appearances would be unthinkable. Modern MPs are expected to scrutinise legislation, form the pool from which ministers are drawn and handle an often-overwhelming amount of constituency casework.
Critics say that dealing with large volumes of casework means MPs are now little more than glorified social workers. I believe that casework grounds MPs in the real world – and the real-world impact of the legislation they pass – but it also raises the question of whether we are asking our elected representatives to cover for specialist advice and advocacy.
During my 27 years as an inner-London MP, casework increased tenfold as constituents needed ever-more legal advice to secure their rights – just as the availability of that support was shrinking. The fallback of recourse to the courts also became costlier and more restrictive.
MPs nowadays see people who would ideally either have resolved things through an advice service or achieved a timely resolution at a tribunal. When those routes are unavailable, traffic is diverted instead to the door of the constituency surgery, which – while open – is not always the most suitable port of call. Overwhelmed MPs and their staff are not legal experts.
Four drivers of casework are worth disentangling. The first is the prolonged squeeze on living standards and funding for public services, with citizens’ growing needs outpacing what the state can provide. Second, rising complexity means that the skills needed to navigate the system have increased, becoming a barrier for many. Third, cuts included in the 2012 Legal Aid Act and shrinking local authority budgets have created ‘advice deserts’, with access to advocacy services falling sharply. The fourth factor is the creaking state of public administration. The time it takes to challenge bad decisions has risen significantly, and when more people are dissatisfied with their outcome, more may seek redress at a tribunal. But when tribunals are themselves pressed for resources, it leads to a growing backlog and more people stuck in limbo.
During my 27 years as an inner-London MP, casework increased tenfold
Whatever the cause, the delays have a catastrophic impact upon the most vulnerable. In my constituency office, expressions of despair and even suicidal ideation – frequently backed by medical evidence – were so common that the toll on staff was impossible to ignore.
Housing stood out as the single biggest issue in my casework. Problems such as homelessness, overcrowding and disrepair were compounded by the constituency’s unusually high proportion of private rented accommodation, bringing insecurity and affordability problems. We dealt with several thousand cases a year, often urgent: imminent possession hearings; bailiffs at the door; illegal evictions. Many crises stemmed from poor administration or lack of early access to legal advice. While lawyers often stepped in, constituents relied on me and my team to avert disaster.
Immigration consistently ranked second, initially dominated by asylum applications from the Iraqi, Sudanese, Kosovan and Lebanese communities. We handled thousands of appeals each year, often via legal representatives of variable quality, but rarely received any response from a beleaguered Home Office.
The invasion of Ukraine brought an emergency temporary resettlement scheme; the fall of the Afghan government saw no equivalent scheme – but still led to local hotels and schools suddenly accommodating hundreds of refugees, requiring support which fully occupied our office.
As caseloads rise, even the most dedicated parliamentary teams cannot give every problem the attention it deserves. Politicians know this. The good ones, at least, surely worry about it. Which might make you wonder why more of them don’t campaign for a well-resourced and accessible justice and advice sector.
Properly funded legal advice and a functioning justice sector would serve the public far better while allowing MPs to fulfil their duties as legislators more effectively.
Dame Karen Buck is chair of Generation Rent and former Labour MP for Westminster North
