This morning an urgent question lodged in the House of Commons about RMJ which led to a debate on RMJ’s current situation. Follow this link to read the response from Caroline Slocock, RMJ chief executive.  

To read our other media releases or contact our media team, please click here.

A detailed briefing on RMJ’s administration is now available for download here.

The administrators had a meeting with the Legal Services Commission at 12.00 on June 16.

The Legal Services Commission confirmed that the Minister’s decision was final and that, despite any short term cost to them, there would be no change to the current funding arrangements.

They were asked to help the organisation with rents so that it could have more time to close files down and help clients find new representatives but this was declined.

The administration papers will be filed in court this afternoon.

The Trustees of Refugee and Migrant Justice (RMJ) today signed papers to place the charity into administration as a result of a cash flow problem created by late payment of legal aid by the Legal Services Commission.  The administrators, BDO, will then assume responsible for managing the business.

To read the media release in full click here, or to contact our media team click here.

An Early Day Motion (EDM) has been tabled in support of Refugee and Migrant Justice by Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion.

EDM 191, which you can read here, calls for the government to pay RMJ promptly for its work to stop the charity being forced to close.

EDM 191 has support across all parties, but needs as many MPs to sign up to it in order to get the issue debated in parliament. RMJ is calling for Parliamentarians to sign the EDM, and for anyone who has already written to their MP about the Save RMJ Campaign to contact them again asking them to sign EDM 191, if they have not already done so. You can download a template letter to your MP here, and you can find out who your MP is here.

Many, many thanks for your support.

This morning RMJ published a new report, part of a research project looking at the costs of providing quality legal representation.

Justice at Risk outlines new findings that show the present legal aid system acts to disincentivise quality. This report draws together original research, including interviews with stakeholders and refugees, a preliminary analysis of a file review exercise, together with a review of existing evidence.

To read the report click here. To read the media release about the report click here, or follow this link to see our other media releases or contact the press team.  To see recent coverage of RMJ in the press, click here.