More than 620,000 people have been deprived of justice since the coalition’s legal aid cuts came into force, a new union report published today says.

According to Unite and Goldsmiths University collected data, the government reforms have shifted the costs of legal aid.

It reads: “For every £1 spent on legal advice and aid, the state saves around £6 on other forms of spending, including spending as a result of families becoming homeless and children being taken into care.

“These ‘reforms’ have therefore been seriously counterproductive in financial terms, as well as being fundamentally unjust.”

Between 2012-13 and 2013-14 there was an almost 30 per cent drop in cases accepted for civil representation.

It also estimated that 80 per cent of those personally affected by the cuts to legal aid were from the most disadvantaged layers of society.

Over half of benefit claimants denied access to legal aid were disabled.

Despite the government’s Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (Laspo) making provisions for women suffering domestic violence, Unite argued it affected several “extremely vulnerable women.”

Unite national officer for the not-for-profit sector Sally Kosky said: “Justice Secretary Chris Grayling should hang his head in shame at the coalition’s decision to pick on the most vulnerable in society for misguided cuts to legal aid.

“Denial of justice strikes at the very heart of creating a fair and equal society.”

The report also suggested that legal aid to children and

young adults should be provided, as well as “removing the barriers to victims of domestic violence.”

It urged that the Big Lottery advice service transition fund is continued for another year.

Commenting on today’s report Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers secretary Sam Parham said: “This superb report recognises the place of legal aid at the heart of the welfare state.

“The current government’s relentless attacks on legal representation for the vulnerable have turned our justice system into a shadow of its former self.

“What was once a jewel in the crown is now descending into a shambles and those individuals who need representation most of all are precisely those who are being denied it as a direct result of the current government’s cuts.”

Mr Parham added that the report’s proposals set out “positive changes” which could reverse the “damage done.”