It really saddens me to report that our welfare benefits Appeals Team will be closing in October after 24 years of invaluable service, helping so many clients with their complicated cases and appeals.
Over the past few years we have managed to deal with everything that the Legal Services Commission threw at us, but regrettably we have now had to call it a day. It is ironic that in my first blog in April I mentioned how the LSC’s new fixed fee regime was wreaking havoc on voluntary sector advice agencies.
I knew it was going to be difficult making the contract work, especially for specialist providers such as ours, but I did not envisage how tough it would be and the huge impact it would have on our own services.
We are not the only agency who has had to terminate or cut down on advice service provision. It seems that every week I’m hearing news of another agency who has decided to reduce or give back their LSC contracts. They are just simply not viable.
It’s deplorable, because advice services are needed now more than ever with the impact of the ‘credit crunch’ and also the implementation of the Government’s new Welfare Reform agenda. According to the Government’s own research it is estimated that an extra 26,500 appeals will be lodged per year because of these reform changes. Where will these people go to get help with their appeals?
Posted by lasaceo 
