Policy

3 February, 2006

An astonishing and disappointing decision of great significance to the most vulnerable people in society

Parliamentary debate on the LSC's termination of Specialist Support funding


Stop press - If your organisation has used any of the Specialist Support Services, we would be grateful if you could complete a short questionnaire. Completed questionnaires can be faxed back to 0207 247 9924, or emailed to ssp@lasa.org.uk. Thankyou for your help.  

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The Legal Services Commission's decision to end funding for Specialist Support services in England and Wales is an 'astonishing' and 'disappointing' decision of 'great significance to the most vulnerable people in society', and has caused 'great disquiet' among those who work on behalf of vulnerable people, MPs have told the government.

In a parliamentary debate yesterday on the LSC's decision, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, Bridget Prentice, said that the decision to redirect almost £3 million from second-tier specialist advice services, to front-line advisers will mean that the Community Legal Service will be better able to 'advise thousands more people who are desperate for legal advice'. 

However MPs expressed a series of concerns about the impact of the decision on the ability of front-line advice agencies to be able to continue to deliver quality advice to their clients, since they can't be expected to have all the knowledge and expertise that they need and therefore welcome the support and expert back-up of specialist support services.

In addition, MPs highlighted that the LSC's own evaluation of the service had concluded that -

'... specialist support is a distinct alternative method of delivery, it increases access to legal advice, it is used by more voluntary agencies than by private solicitors, it is friendly and helpful, users felt that the services were of high quality, clients' cases were progressed faster, unwinnable cases were stopped and, in addition, the benefits of the Community Legal Service meant that it should become a mainstream contracting option.'

However the Under-Secretary of State said that when the LSC had consulted on its 'Making legal rights a reality' strategy, it discovered that the high level of need for first-tier, or direct, advice was not being met and that far more must be made available and, in consequence -

'The commission believes that refocusing these resources on advice given directly to the consumer, rather than to the lawyers who then go on to advise the consumer, would provide a much better service to a far larger number of people.'

The parliamentary debate on the LSC's decision to end funding for specialist support services is available here.

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