The Government launched the Community Legal Service (CLS) in April 2000. The Access to Justice Act 1999 provides the basis of the CLS and created the Legal Services Commission to replace the Legal Aid Board. The Commission is a new Non-Departmental Public Body that has been given the statutory responsibility to establish, maintain and develop the CLS.
The aim of the CLS is to improve access to legal and advice services, and so provide people with the means to resolve disputes, enforce their rights and, if necessary, go to court. The focus of the CLS is on meeting the type of legal needs that most affect people's lives, in particular providing advice and help on problems in social welfare categories of law such as housing, debt, employment, welfare benefits, community care, discrimination, immigration and mental health issues.
Under the Access to Justice Act, the existing civil legal aid system was replaced by the CLS Fund. The CLS Fund is the Government's main expenditure programme for all civil legal and advice services for the public. The CLS Fund covers all kinds of civil disputes from parents contesting custody of their children through to groups challenging the decisions of public bodies. The CLS Fund also covers a range of activities from initial advice and assistance to a client all the way through to court proceedings. The size of the CLS Fund is limited, and so strict eligibility requirements are in place to ensure the money is there to help those on very low incomes.
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The focus of the CLS is on meeting the types of legal needs that most affect people's lives |
The CLS Fund is worth an average of £700 million annually over the next three years. The large majority of the CLS Fund will be spent on lawyers representing their clients in court if the client is taking or defending court proceedings. Out of the £700 million, the Government will spend around £200 million this year (2001/02) on Legal Help, equivalent to initial advice and assistance with legal problems. It is expected that around £140 million out of Legal Help will be spent on advice and assistance in the social welfare categories of law, of which half will be on immigration advice.
Since April 2000 the Government, through the Legal Services Commission, has been refocusing expenditure on national and local priorities for legal services through the letting of contracts with quality assured providers, and the introduction of a Funding Code. This is enabling more money to be released to fund the Government's priorities. In this way, increasing the availability of timely quality legal advice and assistance should prevent an escalation of people's problems, so that they can be solved quickly and cost-effectively, and without the stress and worry of a prolonged dispute.
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Timely quality legal advice and assistance should prevent an escalation of people's problems, so that they can be solved quickly and cost-effectively, and without the stress and worry of a prolonged dispute. |
People requiring help and advice in the social welfare categories of law are one of the top priorities for the CLS Fund. The Lord Chancellor has formally directed the Legal Services Commission that priority should be given to "help with social welfare issues that will enable people to avoid or climb out of social exclusion…". However, the impact of increasing prioritisation of resources towards help and advice in the social welfare categories will not have an immediate effect, as budgets will need to be at least maintained and existing commitments will have to be fulfilled and costs met, but the intention is to re-focus and increase the amount of expenditure going to help legal and advice services help tackle social issues.
The introduction of contracting has also meant that the Legal Services Commission is now in a much stronger position to plan local services with other funding organisations in CLS Partnerships. The Commission can increasingly direct CLS funding towards the communities and areas with the greatest need, through its allocation of contracts being informed by the needs assessments carried out by CLS Partnerships and Regional Legal Service Committees.
For example, in response to greater need for immigration advice, the Legal Services Commission has used CLS funding for immigration training courses to allow law firms and advice agencies to expand and re-train staff. The Legal Services Commission has also introduced a number of targeted CLS expansion packages aimed at encouraging new and existing service providers to undertake more asylum work in areas identified as having unmet legal needs following the Home Office dispersal programme.
The CLS provides the framework for local networks of legal and advice services, which are based on local needs and priorities, and supported by local CLS Partnerships. The local partnerships bring together the Legal Services Commission, local authorities, local solicitors' firms, Citizens Advice Bureaux, Law Centres, and other independent advice centres, and a range of other organisations and agencies.
The CLS Partnerships have four main tasks:
Annex C provides a list of the current Community Legal Service Partnerships. Examples of work being carried out by CLS Partnerships include:
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In Liverpool, the local CLS Partnership has launched the new Speke Advice Service. Speke is the second most deprived ward in the country, and is also very isolated within the city. The new advice service (a Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB)) will be the first service of its kind in the area, and is based on extensive local consultation by the partnership, and it will provide advice and help with issues such as housing and benefits. The consultation identified high levels of disability and caring responsibilities in the ward, and as a result the CAB will be looking to offer telephone advice and home visits by advice workers. It is also aiming to provide access to services outside normal working hours. The service has been funded by £11O,OOO from Liverpool City Council, and a contract from the Legal Services Commission worth around £5O,OOO. |
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In Plymouth, the new Devon Law Centre has been set up following a needs assessment which revealed high levels of unmet need across Devon, particularly in the category of immigration and asylum advice. The Legal Services Commission and Law Centres Federation, with the support of the local partnership, worked together to help establish the new Law Centre. The Law Centre opened in July 2OO1 and it has received funding of £19O,OOO from the Legal Services Commission for its first year of operation. The funding includes contracts awarded in the categories of immigration, housing, education and community care. The funding from the Commission will give the new Law Centre the time to look for additional sources of funding to support its work. The Law Centre will be providing telephone advice and outreach services to help provide better access to services in Devon. |
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In Kent, the advice needs of young people are the subject of projects by the CLS Partnerships in Canterbury district and Medway. The Medway partnership is working with Youth Access so that it will have a better understanding of the problems that young people experience and the types of advice services they want. In Canterbury district, the partnership is working with the Council's Community Development Service, as part of its regeneration programme, to consult young people living in Whitstable and Herne Bay. The projects have been helped by specialist youth work teams who have gone out into the community to talk to young people in areas of deprivation, large housing estates and rural areas. The results from the consultation will help to shape future advice services in the area. |
The Partnership Innovation Budget (PIB) was announced in December 2000 and is worth £15 million over the next three years. The PIB has been set up to encourage local CLS Partnerships to develop new ideas for delivering legal help and advice to reach those groups in the local community that have not been receiving advice, whether it is because of social or geographic barriers, or they are simply unaware of the help that is available. The successful bids were announced in September 2001 and they will be the subject of careful analysis to see if the ideas could be adopted elsewhere around the country. Attached at Annex B is the list of successful PIB applications, to show the range of topics being supported.
The CLS Information Point (IP) programme has been set up to accredit a wide range of local organisations and outlets with providing simple, straightforward front-line guidance on where to get the sort of initial help that people often need. IPs are already to be found in a range of outlets, including libraries, GP surgeries, hospitals and council offices. They will all stock a new range of clear, easy-to-follow CLS leaflets published by the Legal Services Commission in April 2001, which have been written by the Consumers' Association. The leaflets cover 25 subjects including divorce, unemployment, housing, debt, benefits, human rights and equal opportunities, and these leaflets will also be made widely available in community languages for minority ethnic groups.
The Government's intention is that Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) should be formed across the country. LSPs formed in the 88 areas eligible for the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund will be subject to accreditation by the Government Offices. LSPs will bring together a wide range of organisations and initiatives in the local area to work effectively in partnership on a range of key interlinked issues, such as housing and the environment, education, crime, employment and health. The LSP will set strategic aims for the local area and see that they are delivered.
The LSPs are at a relatively early stage of development, but a number of CLS Partnerships have already made contact with LSPs and have established links. The nature of the links varies in each area according to the way in which the LSP has developed. However, all of them agree on the important role that legal and advice services can play in helping to deliver the local strategy, and that through the local CLS Partnership, they should be part of the local neighbourhood renewal process.
