Three vulnerable people living in the UK were locked out of accessing the justice system to challenge deportation orders because of conflicting government procedures and lengthy delays. These are the findings of a Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) investigation published today.

A Law Centre charity that provides legal representation for people who have been treated unfairly by public bodies, complained to the Ombudsman after the Legal Aid Agency failed to provide legal aid to its clients in a fair and timely way.

In 2017, the Centre represented three EU citizens living in the UK who the Home Office had decided should be deported after they were found sleeping rough. The Law Centre argued that the Home Office policy behind these decisions was unlawful and was being used to systematically identify and deport EU citizens. It requested reviews of these decisions and applied to the Legal Aid Agency for funding so it could represent its clients. The Agency delayed responding to the funding applications, leaving the Centre and its clients in limbo.

The Centre had to self-fund the legal challenges against the deportation orders which was a huge financial risk for the charity. There was no guarantee it would be successful in securing the funding or winning the cases. The alternative was to turn its back on the vulnerable individuals in dire need of its help, who faced being deported – decisions that were later found to be unlawful.

The Centre eventually secured the funding and successfully appealed the Home Office decisions, but not before one of its clients was detained and another had their passport removed. One client was left waiting over three months to get funding. If the Law Centre had waited for the funds before starting legal action, it would likely have missed the deadline to challenge the deportation order.

To make matters worse, the Agency could only provide funding from the date it had decided to grant the aid. This meant that, although the individuals were entitled to it, the Agency would not backdate the funding to cover the full costs of their legal challenges. The charity couldn’t recoup costs to cover work carried out at the beginning of the legal process, leaving it out of pocket and in a weaker position to provide support to those in future need.

The Agency’s delays and initial decision to decline legal aid to two of the clients had a profound impact on these individuals’ lives and their ability to challenge the Home Office decisions.

Julie Bishop, Director of the Law Centres Network, said:

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