A FORMER Conservative Party leader is backing a campaign to give poorer families access to justice.

Iain Duncan Smith, Conservative MP for Chingford and Woodford Green, is supporting the Law Society’s call to save taxpayers money by granting legal aid for early advice in family and housing law.

Those in need have not been able to claim legal aid for most areas of early legal advice since 2012.

Joe Egan, president of the Law Society says: “A lack of free early legal advice can cause problems to escalate unnecessarily, potentially increasing the burden on the courts and increasing costs to the taxpayer.

“The current system is a false economy, meaning more cases are ending up in court that could have been resolved earlier, and more pressure is applied on our already stretched public services.

“We are calling on the government to provide legal aid for early advice as part of their review of legal aid reforms.”

Mr Duncan Smith says: “I am regularly contacted by constituents with issues which could have been resolved sooner if only they had access to free early legal advice.

“We know the government is currently reviewing the legal aid reforms made in 2012, and as part of that review I urge them to consider providing legal aid for early advice.”