Press Release
Employment and Housing advice is only a phone call away
11 July 2005
Community Legal Service Direct, the telephone and online legal aid service, celebrates its first birthday with the launch of two new telephone advice lines for people with employment or housing problems.
The Community Legal Service Direct helplines are available by calling 0845 345 4345 and will join the existing benefits and tax credits, debt and services that have received more than 200,000 calls over the past year.
Anyone that calls the Community Legal Service Direct helpline can get free initial advice from a qualified legal adviser about benefits and tax credits, debt, education, housing or employment. People eligible for legal aid can get further help by telephone and post, or be referred for face-to-face advice for problems that cannot be solved over the phone.
Callers can also order free legal information leaflets on a variety of topics, find a quality local legal adviser or solicitor, and listen to frequently asked question on common problems.
The first anniversary of Community Legal Service Direct also sees improvements to www.clsdirect.org.uk . The amount of information on the site available to people whose first language is not English has been increased and three new languages; Arabic, Hindi and Turkish have been added.
Legal aid minister, Bridget Prentice said: "Since its launch last year Community Legal Service Direct has provided advice and assistance for thousands of people by phone, internet and leaflet.
"Improving access to legal advice in this way is helping give people access to justice. It has also proved to be tremendously popular. Over 80 per cent of clients have already recommended the service to someone else."
Steven Healey of Walsall was one of the many people who over the last year received help via Community Legal Service Direct to resolve their problems. After developing a serious medical condition Steven was signed off work and later made redundant. Although he had taken out insurance to cover his credit card and loan repayments, he had recently taken out a finance agreement on a new car.
Despite trying to negotiate with the finance company just three weeks after falling behind on the payments for his car, they took steps to seize the vehicle, leaving him owing more than £14,000 for a car he no longer had.
Community Legal Service Direct advised Steven that his initial contract with the finance company was void. After Community Legal Service Direct contacted the finance company and explained the fault with Steven’s contract they agreed to cancel the £14,000 debt.
Mike Whittall, Acting Head of Direct Services at the Legal Services Commission said: "The helpline, website and leaflets combined make it easier for people to get assistance, as they are not limited by a need to travel in order to obtain expert advice, it also opens up access to advice for those who might be reluctant to seek face-to-face assistance."
Media information
Daniel Kellingley 020 7759 0415
Notes to editors
1. If you wish to speak to Mike Whittall or Steven Healey please contact Daniel Kellingley to arrange an interview.
2. Community Legal Service Direct provides free information, help and advice direct to the public on a range of common legal issues.
3. Community Legal Service Direct consists of a national helpline (0845 345 4345), a website (www.clsdirect.org.uk) and a series of 31 free printed legal information leaflets.
4. In Community Legal Service Direct’s first year:
- over 210,000 calls were made to 0845 345 4345
- over 500,000 visits have been made to www.clsdirect.org.uk
- 1.7 million legal information leaflets have been distributed
5. After the successes of the last year Community Legal Service Direct has expanded to include:
- housing and employment telephone advice
- seven additional leaflets including, Care Proceedings, Changing your Name and Neighbourhood and Community Disputes, bringing the total number available to 31
- new legal information on the website in Welsh, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi, Turkish and Urdu
6. The Community Legal Service Direct helpline (0845 345 4 345) offers a translation service to help those that do not speak English as their first language.
7. Community Legal Service Direct provides a directory service to help callers find their nearest legal aid provider.
Last updated: 28 December 2006