nickd
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|  | LASPO Fightback - it's time for guerilla tactics
« Thread Started on May 12, 2012, 7:57pm » | |
Let phase two begin...
The passing of LASPO is the passing of a wicked bill. Government has set out its unjust rules, we don't think they are fair. Nor do we think they will work, deliver savings or promote justice; in fact they will do exactly the opposite.
That's why we're calling in a little extra help as we enter phase two. Your best bet in keeping up to speed with what we're doing is via the ilegal/mylegal forums. Government has not fought a clean or fair fight; we will use brute force in our argument to get what we're owed back.
Meet our new LASPO fightback weapon on twitter...
Our new hashtag #Guerrilla
![[image]](http://www.studiolineal.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/wp_guerillaChe_081009_tatA.jpg "[image]")
We'll be more 'guerilla' like
as we take on...
The Ministry of Justice!
Guerrilla was a word used by Lord Bach at a campaign reception at the House of Lords this week, it's how he described the measures parliamentarians will be going to in contesting the practical application of LASPO in its regulatory form. LASPO was rushed through Parliament so government could claim Royal Assent in this parliamentary year, the bill's scrutiny was nothing short of a sham. LASPO was never a popular bill, that was all too clear when the House of Lords voted for a record number of amendments.
Government overturned almost all of these on the grounds of 'financial privilege'; in doing so it has left us with a shambles. We are committed to doing all we can to rectify the damage by using our specialist knowledge to point out where defective regulation demands proper law. We will continue to show how real solutions are needed in times of great economic difficulty and financial hardship. Government cannot pretend that its austerity measures will work unless people have somewhere to go to when faced with sorting out the problems it creates. Government is shamed by its abolition of social welfare legal aid, that's why it's been veiled in secrecy and omitted in mention from the justice websites.
So yes we will be using 'guerilla' tactics to get back what's rightfully ours and we will be taking ownership of areas of legal aid which government has shown itself unfit to provide. Here's why we need to fight for what's right...
As it stands any legal aid funded advice agency from April 2013:
• Will not be able to help you unless you go through a national telephone 'gateway' helpline - we know it won't work.
• If you do eventually get through to an advice agency or law centre we will only be able to help you in extreme emergency situations such as losing your home.
• The days of helping you with benefit enquiries and appeals are over - all we will be able to do is help you with an appeal to an Upper Tribunal - in most cases we will have to turn you away.
• Some agencies will end up having to close completely - you may not get any help at all.
• Some agencies will have to rely on volunteers who aren't trained as specialists - they will do their best but it won't always meet your needs.
• Government has said MP's can sort your benefit problems out - do you really believe they will?
So it's time to confront those that we once mocked - we hoped they would see the error of their ways
![[image]](http://www.communitycare.co.uk/blogs/childrens-services-blog/2011/06/29/ProtestSoundOfforJustice2.jpg "[image]")
Ken Clarke's Ministry of Justice didn't give us a decent slice of the cake.
The few crumbs on offer aren't enough - we want more.
We also want greater clarity of the remnants of LASPO:
LASPO
(1) We will use the open ended provisions in the civil sections of the legal aid, sentencing & punishment of offender's act to advantage as we the know the act will not effectively meet our client's needs.
(2) We want to know how upper tribunal work for welfare benefits will be funded and what the terms of the supply contracts are.
(3) We want the concession promised by Ken Clarke and more recently Jonathon Djanogly clarified so we know how we can help people with benefit appeals in the lower tribunals. We want to know where we stand on these amendments and we want government to listen to our ideas.
(4) We want more detail on how the telephone gateway will work when f a client turns up at our office & needs some help. We want to know how access problems will be dealt with.
(5) We want to know how government intends to monitor the impact which these savage cuts to specialist advice will have upon thousands of individuals in real need - we are not going to be fobbed off with inadequate impact assessments any more.
Specialist advice
Through continuing National campaign bodies we will continue to press for answers to the following:
(6) We want to know what is happening to the provision of specialist debt work - financial capability is admirable but it won't help a client in immediate need of assistance with a drowning debt problem.
(7) We will be watching for signs of failure where clients are unable to secure early dispute resolution through inadequate access to specialist help. We will continue to collect evidence based social policy examples of the work we do now so that comparisons can be drawn when advice is withdrawn.
(8) We want to know when and then how often Government will conduct a proper review of the impact which loss of legal aid/advice sector funding will have on the lives of the individuals who are affected by these cuts. We are not satisfied with how the Ministry of Justice has abandoned specialist advice funding when it has an overriding duty to ensure access to justice.
Pro-active measures
Check out Patrick's 'mission statement' in the next post, it's well worth a read about we'll continue to serve professionals who aid their clients with legal solutions.
On Mylegal we will continue:
To engage with the general public with a particular accent on identifying clients battling with problems related to the implementation of welfare reforms.
We especially would like some examples of clients who are struggling to cope with benefit appeals. The ministry of justice has said they think people can manage these without help, we want to be able show them this is simply not the case.
We will continue to engage in the promotion of the various campaigns launched by various representative bodies via social media with a view to encouraging people to approach their MP's & local councils to push for better funding. We also of course continue to try and remain topical and increase awareness of what is going on in the world of specialist social welfare advice.
We remain committed to being investigative. A lot of evidence was produced whilst LASPO was debated in Parliament, government tried every trick in its citing of evidence which was only of help to them, they deliberately paid no more than lip service to the valid references we provided.
We are committed to protecting the innocent victims...
![[image]](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_23SyrwR-3SI/TPexdv7VTtI/AAAAAAAAAUI/0cCRvxA4YIY/s1600/Stressed+man+family.jpg "[image]")
Because people will always need specialist legal advice
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nickd
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| | Re: New
« Reply #1 on May 13, 2012, 10:24am » | |
A few words from ilegal's
Patrick Torsney...
![[image]](http://a2.twimg.com/profile_images/1765838124/TWITTER_2012.jpg "[image]")
"We intend to reclaim Social Welfare Law
Legal Aid"
"Legal aid isn't just a funding stream from the LSC. We believe it is providing proper legal assistance to clients who require it. Aid which can be funded via any number of sources.
The LSC and the Government has shown it does not deserve stewardship of 'legal aid', we're taking it back.
We will therefore be closely following all developments in both the not-for-profit advice sector and the wider legal advice sector. We see no need to set artificial distinctions when the aim is to provide the best possible service to clients in a sustainable funding environment.
There is more to come on this.
Watch this space"
Read more: http://ilegal.org.uk/index.cgi?board=wha....9#ixzz1ugxjng7t
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nickd
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| | Re: New
« Reply #2 on May 21, 2012, 10:33pm » | |
Mylegal view...
![[image]](http://downloads.ilegal.org.uk/SHUSH%20LINK%20IMAGES/man_pic.jpg "[image]")
"Government can claim no credibility in its handling of LASPO as it crashed its way through Parliament. The passage of the bill was dreadful with hours of constructive debate in both houses being lost on a shameful scrutiny exercise which ran to a pre-worked agenda. Government proved how it is far from the listening ear it professes to be. There was no logic in overturning the well argued and fought for amendments in the House of Lords, to overturn them on the grounds of financial privilege exposed government as running to a sinister agenda, I can't describe it in any other way because that is what it is; sinister.
There was absolutely no economic reason for rejecting amendment 168 (which in effect denies anyone legal in the majority of benefits appeals) because it was guaranteed to deliver cost savings. I can only conclude that this is a government which does not want to support longer term welfare dependants into work with constructive help to assist incapacitated or those with limitation into employment. Government says the flagship WORK programme is the answer to delivering longer term economic savings but yet its measures are denying those who need it to work any access to proving that they should be placed in the programme; it's destined to fail so long as this mindset continues.
It is morally wrong to say someone is not disabled by exposing them to fatally flawed assessments and then remove all the access they need in being able to prove they are in fact disabled. It looks suspiciously like this is a government which is out to park people, whatever their limitation, on to Jobseeker's Allowance just to save money. I presume they would then simply blame the previous administration for putting people 'on the wrong benefit' for 'far too long'. If the WORK programme was a genuine one they would be giving people all the help they need in being able to get through the process of proving their respective levels of limitation.
Government is absolutely wrong to assume the work we do as paid professionals could be carried out by generalist volunteer advisers, I find this insulting as it demotes the specialist skills we possess. I genuinely think this has been so hushed up that it is only something people will realise when they are in need of support and all access to effective help is simply no longer available. LASPO law is a sham - we should fight tooth & nail for proper regulatory overhaul until a wrong is put right. "
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