Families of victims killed in tragedies like Hillsborough and the Grenfell Tower disaster should be automatically granted legal aid to avoid “exacerbating the grief and trauma”, an influential think tank has concluded.
The government last year refused to sanction automatic state funding for disaster victims – at a cost of £30-70 million – even though bodies like the police and hospitals are free to hire teams of lawyers at public expense.
Lobby group JUSTICE has called the decision “wholly inadequate”, calling on ministers to agree to “equality of arms” as part of an overhaul of the public inquiry and inquest system.
Following an in-depth, year-long review led by former High Court judge Sir Robert Owen, JUSTICE found families of victims of major tragedies can be “overwhelmed” by the number of legal processes they have to negotiate.
“A system cannot provide justice if its processes exacerbate the grief and trauma of its participants”, the report concluded.
“Our recommendations seek to ensure that inquests and inquiries are responsive to the needs of bereaved people and survivors, while minimising the delay and duplication that impede effectiveness and erode public confidence.”
The JUSTICE report called on Lord Chancellor Robert Buckland to agree to “non-means tested public funding for legal representation for families where the State has agreed to provide separate representation for one or more interested persons”.
The thinktank, which wants to see trauma training for those running public inquiries, said the Chief Coroner post should be a full-time role to oversee major investigations.
It also proposed the introduction of a “special procedure inquest” for investigating mass fatalities or a series of deaths.
Sir Robert – who oversaw the inquest into the poisoning of Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko – said the reforms would help root out systemic failure and “restore public confidence” in the legal system.
The Grenfell Tower inquiry was beset by problems from the outset, with controversy over how the chairman and panel were appointed and bereaved families and survivors expressing distrust in the process.
JUSTICE has recommended the creation of “central inquiries unit” within government to provide instant expertise when a public inquiry is needed.
Unveiling the report on Monday night, Sir Robert said the 52 recommendations were “timely” with a public inquiry looming over the UK’s Covid-19 pandemic response, insisting changes would mean bereaved families would “know where they stand from the outset”.
