The Government’s new approach to race relations and issues of how we all live together in a highly diverse society is called “Community Cohesion”. Great. Of course we all want to live in a cohesive society where there are strong and effective relationships between people of different backgrounds.
But the reality of the proposal is anything but cohesive, as anyone who’s read the government’s community cohesion consultation document knows. Essentially the government is now trying to dissuade funders from providing funding for single issue or single ethnic groups on the grounds that such funding encourages separation rather than “cohesion”. Lasa have published a paper in response.
In times of crisis people seek help from within their own community. Sometimes it’s the only place where they can get advice. And for marginalized groups that advice can then be a springboard into the mainstream.
The government’s approach goes against almost all of the evidence about how immigrants and refugees settle successfully in the UK. To withdraw funding from all these groups is the wrong answer to the wrong question.
I read in yesterday’s Guardian that Ed Balls has, finally, conceded that the credit crunch “is impacting on family finances … in a way no one anticipated”. Read more here
Talk about too little too late. I want Labour to finally move on from their infighting and really think about the people who they’re supposed to be helping. Alistair Darling’s new package of tax cuts and compensation for those who lost out on the abolition of the 10p tax rate sounds good. But in reality those on the lowest incomes who lost £230 as a result will only gain £120 from higher allowances, according to the Guardian.
As the cost of living rises and the economy lurches from one crisis to another, more and more people are slipping into poverty without adequate support. Tax cuts and some compensation are one thing; access to free legal advice when you lose your job or your home is about to be repossessed and you can’t afford a lawyer is just as essential. Our chair, Liz Sewell, recently appeared on the BBC to talk about this issue.
It’s a tough time for Gordon Brown. But it’s an even tougher time for the people who need help most.
I’m driven to start my first blog by the headlines about the impact of the new Legal Services Commission contract on industrial relations at Shelter. They’re not alone – the new contracts are wreaking havoc in voluntary advice agencies throughout the country. I think it’s time we fought our own corner a little harder.
Way back in 2006 we told the LSC that replacing hourly payments with fixed fees was going to be a recipe for disaster. The new fixed fee for a welfare benefit case is a princely £164 – equivalent to three hours of our casework and just twenty minutes of that of a corporate lawyer. Our average time to complete a case is six and half hours. I would say ‘you do the maths’ but the maths doesn’t add up.
The most desperate clients will inevitably suffer as hard-pressed agencies are forced to take on easier, quicker cases just in order to survive. And, as everyone involved in providing voluntary legal advice knows, there a precious few safety nets left for those clients we can’t take.
Times are hard; for government, funders, the LSC and public alike. I know that choices have to be made. I accept that ‘value for money’ is more of a mantra than ever before. So fine, let’s talk about value for money. Last year lasa’s success rate at tribunal was 85% - as opposed to a 40% success rate for clients who aren’t represented. And we know how economically devastating the fall-out from failure at tribunal can be.
I don’t think advice centres can wait until things get even worse than they are. I think we owe ourselves and, most importantly, our clients a bit better than that. It’s time to get proactive about telling the media exactly what the impact of these new contracts really is.
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