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Alison Bennett MP asking an important Q about legal aid for mental health work. www.instagram.com/reel/DYm70Vg... My pending report looks at community care legal aid- vulnerable adults no longer able to access lawyers in much of England & Wales, Legal Help provision crashing since LASPO Act despite

⚖️ Legal Aid funding for mental health work is not sustainable. When someone is severely mentally ill, they may need to be sectioned, and when this happens, they have a right to legal representation which is funded through legal aid.Over the last decade a solicitor's fee for taking on such a case as declined by 45% in real terms, and unsurprisingly there has been a decline in the number of solicitors who are willing to work in this area. In 2024/25 there were just 151 solicitors accredited as members of the Law Society Mental Health Scheme. Taking away an individual's liberty, not because they have committed a crime, but because they are mentally unwell is one of the most serious interventions the state can make over a person. This is an area of law that cannot safely be starved of funding.I put these challenges to the Lord Chancellor David Lammy earlier on this week, and I will be writing to him asking for a meeting so he is equipped with the information to understand why this needs his urgent attention.