We remain concerned at the length of time detainees in many Immigration Removal Centres have to wait in order to see a solicitor at the legal advice surgeries provided by the Legal Aid Agency.
69% of the people we spoke to for this survey had waited more than one week for an appointment, and of these 38% had waited two weeks (or two weeks to date), 21% had waited for three weeks (or three weeks to date) to see a solicitor.
When this is combined with high levels of uncertainty about whether or not the solicitor they saw has decided to take on their case once they have had an appointment, it is no surprise that detainees tell us that they are frustrated and uncertain.
“I book the appointment then they make me sign all papers but then they don’t get back to me or they just say that they can’t take my case and then I rebook the appointment with another legal aid, wait for them a month time and again they say the same. It's very frustrating. I am sick because of all this. […] did this three time with me and moreover when one legal aid refuse to take my case after me signing letter of authority then I need to wait 6 months to rebook the appointment with another legal aid. Because of this my time has been wasted, and I am detained for a long time.” (Mr B who has been detained for 22 months, June 2013)
The ongoing cuts and uncertainty around legal aid for immigration work, coming on top of years of underfunding for providers doing this work, have made advice-giving to detainees an extremely difficult environment to operate in while maintaining levels of quality and communication that clients should expect. But we remain concerned that long-term detainees can be sitting in detention without having been removed, like Mr B who has been held for 22 months, without being able to get advice on the fact of their detention.
