Press Release
Wales solves 8% more legal problems with more help on the way
2 February 2006
MPs were tonight debating changes to how legal aid is spent in Wales, at the same time the Legal Services Commission (LSC) announced funding for new projects in Wales as well as a redirection of £2.3 million in England and Wales to buy more legal services to go direct to the public.
Following tonight’s announcement from the legal aid minister, Bridget Prentice in the House of Commons, Bob Chapman, the Wales Director for the Commission’s said; “We will shortly be giving details of funding for four outreach money advice workers in Wales as part of HM Treasury's Financial Inclusion Fund. We are confident that the outreach projects will be of enormous benefit to the community, including reducing child poverty, opening prospects for employment and preventing homelessness.”
Meanwhile the Commission has recently taken the decision to stop funding specialist lawyers to advise other lawyers, instead refocusing the money on expanding the delivery of specialist advice directly to the public. This means that £2.3 million can be reinvested into directly advising the public on their legal problems. That’s enough money to fund around 9,000 more vulnerable people access legal aid in the current financial year.
This builds on recent successes in expanding access to legal advice in Wales. In the second half of last year providers of legal aid in Wales helped more clients compared to the same period for the previous year, undertaking eight percent more cases and reversing the declining trend of previous years. This follows an increase in face-to-face services as well as the launch of Community Legal Services Direct in June 2005 in Wales. Community Legal Service Direct provides free information, help and advice direct to the public in Wales on a range of common legal problems through its helpline, website and leaflets. All of these services are available bilingually.
Bob Chapman said; “We are delighted to be working with the Welsh Assembly Government in taking forward our vision for the Community Legal Service. Together we will be working with local communities to pilot the delivery of more client-focused and integrated face-to-face civil advice services.“
Media Information:
For more information please contact Michaela Keating, Tel: 020-7759-0444 Email: michaela.keating@legalservices.gov.uk
Notes to eds:
Legal aid in Wales
·Legal aid is not a devolved function, but the Legal Services Commission recognises the unique nature of governance in Wales and we work as partners with the Welsh Assembly Government and the Welsh Local Government Association invaluable in developing integrated local advice services that will better meet the needs of the people of Wales.
·Community Legal Service Direct was officially launched in Wales in June 2005 at the National Assembly for Wales Building, Cardiff Bay. The Welsh services provides free bilingual information, help and advice direct to the public on a range of common legal problems through its helpline, website and leaflets. All of these are available bilingually. During 2005 there were 7987 calls to the telephone service from Wales, of which 6,616 were from clients wanting to speak to an adviser, and resulting in 4,560 specialist cases being advised upon. The Commission is currently tendering to expand its capacity to take calls and advise Welsh callers in Welfare Benefits, Debt and Housing. The new contract is expected to start in April 2006.
·Following close working with the Welsh Language Board, In August 2005 the Legal Services Commission launched a consultation paper on its proposed Welsh Language Scheme. The Legal Services Commission has adopted the principle that in the conduct of public business in Wales, the Commission will treat the English and Welsh languages on the basis of equality. The scheme sets out how the Commission will give effect to that principle when providing services to the public in Wales. The Commission will continue to work with the Welsh Language Board towards the implementation of the final scheme on the 1st of April.
·Innovative Legal Aid projects in Wales include:
* a Housing Possession Court Duty scheme which provides an invaluable emergency advice and representation service to those in immediate danger of losing their homes. The LSC will be considering whether to introduce and expand additional schemes in Wales.
* Twelve local projects funded through the Partnership Initiative Budget, including Connect 2 U (Torfaen County Borough Council) which provides information and advice on benefits, debt, consumer, housing, employment and immigration via video links from libraries and the Council’s Customer Care Centre to the Citizen’s Advice Bureau, Trading Standards and other Council departments, and the Young Peoples' Advice and Information Project (Caerphilly County Citizens Advice Bureau) which provides a welfare benefits and debt advice service targeted at young people. Projects in the second round of funding (such as Connect 2 U) benefited from a joint funding arrangement between the LSC, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Community Fund (now Big Lottery Fund).
·Across the UK in 2004/05 the LSC funded 595,000 cases and is expecting to increase this to 650,000 in the current year. This decision ensures that this expansion of services is sustainable.
Evidence and policy base for LSC decisions include:
·The need to refocus current funding is highlighted by the DCA paper; “A Fairer Deal for Legal Aid” which estimates that over 1 million problems go unresolved each year because people do not understand their basic rights or how to seek help.
·The research which underpins the LSC document “Making legal rights a reality” demonstrates high levels of legal need, above the existing provision in areas of high demand so therefore it is vital that we ensure the availability of as much front line advice as possible.
Notes to editors
The further £114million of the Financial Inclusion Fund will be used in the following ways:
·£45million will be used to support an increase in provision of free face-to-face money advice. This will be facilitated by the Department of Trade and Industry.
·£36million will be used to establish a growth fund to support the coverage, capacity and sustainability of third sector lenders e.g. Credit Unions, Community Development Finance Institutions and Industrial and Provident Societies. The fund will be administered by the Department of Work and Pensions.
·£10million will be available to provide support to administer a scheme whereby, under certain circumstances, lenders could apply for repayment to be made by deduction from benefit where normal repayment arrangements have broken down.
·£3million will be allocated to the Financial Inclusion Taskforce to enable them to pursue their objectives, including improving the knowledge base of financial exclusion issues.
·The remainder of the Financial Inclusion Fund will be used for ongoing support for the administration of these schemes.
Last updated: 28 December 2006