Citizens Advice is the national charity responsible for leading and supporting Citizens Advice Bureaux across England and Wales. We co-ordinate the largest independent network of free advice centres in Europe, providing advice from over 3,200 outlets. In 2004/5 the CAB service dealt with 5.2 million new enquiries.
The specialist support scheme was created to provide expert help to frontline advice workers assisting clients on complex cases. Specialist support contracts have brought the expertise of national charities and legal centres into the framework of Community Legal Services, and have become a key link with frontline providers.
In its July 2004 evaluation report of the specialist support pilots the LSC found that the scheme improved access to quality legal advice for vulnerable and socially excluded individuals, and that it achieves this at an acceptable cost, utilising economies of scale without compromising on quality. Based on this evaluation, the LSC made specialist support a mainstream contracting option. In this context the decision in January 2006 to withdraw all funding from July 2006 is very surprising.
Citizens Advice Specialist Support, with units in Cardiff, Wolverhampton and Leeds, provides recourse to expert advice for all CAB advisers on any appropriate case.
Citizens Advice is extremely concerned about the withdrawal of LSC funding for specialist support services from July 2006 as it has direct implications for our clients, many of whom are vulnerable and are not in a position to employ specialist advisers themselves. Specialist support is vital in providing access to quality legal advice for disadvantaged groups on consumer, debt, employment and welfare benefits issues.
Citizens Advice believes that the Government should press the LSC to reconsider their decision to withdraw specialist support funding.
Citizens Advice Specialist Support provides a freephone telephone consultancy to all bureaux in England and Wales and delivers training for caseworkers. The consultancy service includes interpretation of legislation, second opinions and case discussions, legal research, tactical advice, written opinions and drafting.
In 2005 Citizens Advice Specialist Support dealt with 8,000 complex cases across all subjects, providing over 7,000 hours of specialist advice. In 2004 our Specialist Money Advice Officers answered 1650 queries. In 2005 the number rose to 2357.
For further information, please contact:
Mark Atkinson, Head of Government and Parliamentary Affairs,
tel: 020 7833 7092, email: mark.atkinson@citizensadvice.org.uk
The following CAB case studies illustrate the work of the specialist support service in providing advice to bureaux on difficult and complex cases:
Backed by specialist support a CAB secured the partial write off of a £40,000 debt for a client with severe learning difficulties who was persuaded to take out secured loans on his property of £71,000. This breached OFT Non-Status Guidelines and, as a result of the bureau’s robust approach and specialist support, the creditor agreed to settle under a confidentiality agreement.
A CAB saw a client who served as a Gurkha and was the first to retire in the UK instead of Nepal due to his ill health. His pension was far below that of an equivalent British soldier, being some £95 per month, in addition he did not qualify for benefits. The CAB received specialist support to commence a race discrimination claim against the Ministry of Defence. The claim was then referred to another agency, which succeeded in obtaining a settlement of £55,000.
A CAB client saw a client who had had his claim for disability discrimination rejected because the tribunal held his learning difficulties did not meet the definition of disability. A successful appeal lodged which resulted in the establishment of an important point of law on the meaning of disability in these cases. The case was widely reported. This demonstrates the direct benefits of specialist support in assisting clients who are not in a financial, educational or emotional position to employ specialists on their own to fight a case that has wider significance. This is especially so within the employment field because the limited legal aid available precludes professional lawyers being instructed at a reasonable cost.
Excerpt from The Daily Telegraph, 26 January 2006:
‘Imagine you are poor enough to qualify for legal aid and fortunate to find a Solicitor. There is a dispute with your Landlord and your Solicitor needs specialist advice on the intricacies of Housing Law. At the moment, your Lawyer can contact another Law firm or a specialist at the housing charity Shelter and the Legal Services Commission will pick up the bill. Until July, that is, when the service will be scrapped. Richard Miller, the Director of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group, said that ending what had been one of the commission’s major success stories was “an appalling decision”. It had enabled clients in rural areas to get some form of specialist advice. But the commission said it was “refocusing resources into frontline services to the greater benefit of clients”. Ending the scheme “could free up £2.3 million in 2006/2007, enough to help 9,000 more people. So long as they do not ask anything too difficult, presumably.’
Organisations providing specialist support services include: Citizens Advice; Child Poverty Action Group; London Advice Services Alliance; MIND; Terrance Higgins Trust; Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants; Shelter, Shelter Cymru; Liberty; Disability Law Service; Public Law Solicitors; Public Law Project; Christian Khan Solicitors; Doughty Street Chambers; Two Garden Court Chambers; 1 Pump Court Chambers; Scott-Moncrieff; Harbour & Sinclair; and Morgans Solicitors.
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