Post by jman on Oct 19, 2011 17:21:03 GMT 1
Here is the link to Justice for All on the loss of a 3rd of the nations debt and housing advice with the full report downloadable. Please get the message out to as many people, media and MPs and Lords as possible.
"A third of the country to lose homelessness advice
A third of the country to lose homelessness advice
A new Justice for All analysis suggests housing and debt advice under legal aid will not be available at all in a third of areas in England and Wales.
The new rules on legal aid – which in total would see 650,000 people losing help - mean so few cases will be covered that 30% of areas will not have a single adviser. This is despite government’s claim that they are retaining advice for those about to be made homeless.
This confirms the Government has given precious little thought to how the little help left over after already-drastic cuts will actually be delivered. By cutting frontline services rather than bureaucracy government will leave people across the country without advice to save their homes in emergency situations.
Government plans would limit housing and debt legal aid to the most desperate cases involving ‘immediate loss of home’, but advice agencies, often charities like Citizens Advice Bureaux, Shelter, or Law Centres, are struggling to see how they make administratively cumbersome legal aid contracts work for just the handful of remaining cases. Advice on employment or benefits issues, often the root cause of arrears and evictions, would be removed altogether from the scheme. Further plans to move the bulk of remaining advice to the phone means only a tiny number of people will get face-to-face help, which is often critical when a home is at risk.
Guidance from the soon-to-be scrapped Legal Services Commission, who administer the legal aid scheme, suggest full time advisers should take on between 250 and 300 cases each year. In 40 of 133 of the Commission’s ‘procurement’ areas government figures predict the combined number of face to face debt and housing cases will be less than 300.
Download the full briefing to see whether your area is affected
Don't forget to write to your MP if you haven't already, ahead of their last chance to vote on the Legal Aid Bill next week. Email Justice For AllJustice for All a coalition of charities, legal and advice agencies, politicians, trade unions, community groups and members of the public."
www.justice-for-all.org.uk/News/A-third-of-the-country-to-lose-homelessness-advice
"A third of the country to lose homelessness advice
A third of the country to lose homelessness advice
A new Justice for All analysis suggests housing and debt advice under legal aid will not be available at all in a third of areas in England and Wales.
The new rules on legal aid – which in total would see 650,000 people losing help - mean so few cases will be covered that 30% of areas will not have a single adviser. This is despite government’s claim that they are retaining advice for those about to be made homeless.
This confirms the Government has given precious little thought to how the little help left over after already-drastic cuts will actually be delivered. By cutting frontline services rather than bureaucracy government will leave people across the country without advice to save their homes in emergency situations.
Government plans would limit housing and debt legal aid to the most desperate cases involving ‘immediate loss of home’, but advice agencies, often charities like Citizens Advice Bureaux, Shelter, or Law Centres, are struggling to see how they make administratively cumbersome legal aid contracts work for just the handful of remaining cases. Advice on employment or benefits issues, often the root cause of arrears and evictions, would be removed altogether from the scheme. Further plans to move the bulk of remaining advice to the phone means only a tiny number of people will get face-to-face help, which is often critical when a home is at risk.
Guidance from the soon-to-be scrapped Legal Services Commission, who administer the legal aid scheme, suggest full time advisers should take on between 250 and 300 cases each year. In 40 of 133 of the Commission’s ‘procurement’ areas government figures predict the combined number of face to face debt and housing cases will be less than 300.
Download the full briefing to see whether your area is affected
Don't forget to write to your MP if you haven't already, ahead of their last chance to vote on the Legal Aid Bill next week. Email Justice For AllJustice for All a coalition of charities, legal and advice agencies, politicians, trade unions, community groups and members of the public."
www.justice-for-all.org.uk/News/A-third-of-the-country-to-lose-homelessness-advice