Press Release

Plans for six new Community Legal Advice services announced

29 May 2008

Six new areas in England and Wales have been identified to gain improved civil legal aid and advice services in plans unveiled by the Legal Services Commission (LSC) today.

The Community Legal Advice centres and networks will be focused on people in greatest need and offer more coordinated services better geared to tackle the common causes of legal problems.

Earlier this year the LSC agreed with the Law Society to publish the full list of areas where the LSC is in discussion with Local Authorities about opening Community Legal Advice services before1 April 2010.

The LSC is working in partnership with local authorities with the aim of establishing Community Legal Advice centres in; Manchester; Stockport; and Sunderland. In addition the LSC and local authorities are also endeavouring to set up Community Legal Advice networks in the area covering Cardiff, the Vale of Glamorgan and Bridgend; Gloucestershire, and West Sussex.

Today’s announcement brings the total number of Community Legal Advice services to 14. Centres are already running in Gateshead, Leicester, Derby and Portsmouth and a preferred bidder has been identified to run the centre in Hull. In addition discussions are already underway with local authorities to establish Community Legal Advice centres in Barking and Dagenham, and Wakefield as well as a network in East Riding.

The LSC will continue to work with other local authorities for services opening from 1 April 2010; this may include running a tendering process before this date. The LSC remains committed to rolling out jointly commissioned CLA services to deliver integrated social welfare law advice.

Richard Collins, Director of Policy and Planning at the Legal Services Commission, said:

“It is common for people needing help to have several problems. Community Legal Advice services are designed around the needs of clients, enabling them to get legal help for a range of social welfare problems.

"For example, someone returning from maternity leave and forced to take a lower paid position than they left will need advice on their employment rights. In addition they may be facing debt and welfare benefit problems as their reduction in income has made it difficult to pay the rent and bills.  Ensuring they receive advice on all the aspects of the problem will help prevent essential utilities like gas being cut off or the potential loss of the family home.

“Our aim is for clients to be able to access a seamless service, from basic advice to specialist representation in the highest courts. This will be either via a single centre, or a network of service providers delivering advice in a more joined up way.”

In addition to providing advice, Community Legal Advice services will take action to resolve the causes of common local problems and will also help educate people about their legal rights. If the service is not able to help, it will refer the person to other local sources of help, arranging appointments where possible.

The LSC and local service providers, funders, decision-makers and users will all work together to shape each service. In particular by working with local authorities we will be able to combine council expertise in identifying local needs with our expertise in ensuring service quality and value for money. This will enable budgets to be pooled and better integration of local services.

In areas where Community Legal Advice centres and networks are not established the LSC will take steps to commission services covering all five social welfare law categories and related public law, under a single contract in each procurement area. This will help to increase the number of clients who will be able to benefit from integrated services.