News and Press

The latest news from Law Centres is published here.

Law Centre news

• Avon and Bristol wins case to provide wheelchair access
  Discrimination worker at Avon and Bristol Law Centre assisted Mrs Corner who has Multiple Sclerosis. Mrs Corner needed a toilet accessible to wheelchair users during her stay at hospital. Mrs Corner had spent many months writing to the Chief Executive to discuss the situation. She said: “I spoke to the Disability Rights Commission who offered conciliation to the hospital but received no response and they advised me to take court action. The more I discovered about the hospital’s practices the more appalled I became. It soon became clear that all but one of the wards had no disabled toilet facilities.I did not pursue the case for myself but because I was disgusted with the lack of basic facilities available, the basic human rights for disabled people, abandoned by the area hospital." On the 11th July, the District Judge at Bristol County Court approved an order and the Trust agreed to apologise and pay Mrs Corner damages for her claim for discrimination and breach of human rights.
• Coventry Law Centre wins compensation claim
  Elayne Hill, employment specialist at Coventry Law Centre represented Ms Fletcher, a nurse who won compensation after being sacked from a nursery that had gone into voluntary liquidation.
• Access to the Courts
  Mrs Donna Pearce, a wheelchair user represented by Avon and Bristol Law Centre successfully brought a claim for disability discrimination after experiencing problems in accessing both services and courtroom in her local magistrate's court.
• Call for a ‘Distinctive Approach’ to Northern Ireland Asylum Policy
  Law Centre (NI) and Refugee Action Group host the Independent Asylum Commission Regional Launch of their review of Asylum Policy in the UK
• Bury Law Centre wins national award
  Bury Law Centre has been given a national award for its pioneering free legal advice clinics.
• DWP discriminates against blind woman
  A Sheffield woman has won her case for disability discrimination against the Department for Work and Pensions. Sheffield County Court awarded £2,500 after the ruling. Angela Sharrock was represented by Douglas Johnson of Sheffield Law Centre in her claim for disability discrimination
• Warnings over repossession advice
  Law Centres report that the number of repossession cases coming to court has doubled in the last six months. Sheffield, Isle of Wight and Harehills and Chapeltown Law Centre in Leeds all report massive increases. Transact, the national forum for financial inclusion say that as a result, more and more people are not gettng the legal advice or representation they need.
• Hard Work, Hidden Lives
  This spring, thirty-two Law Centres took part in an important piece of research carried out by the TUC's Commission on Vulnerable Employment (CoVE). The report, ‘Hard Work, Hidden Lives’ was launched on 8th May by Brendan Barber, General Secretary of the TUC and presented to the Prime Minister on 4th June.
• London Legal Support Trust Walk
  Law Centre and LCF walkers joined more than 3,500 lawyers for the fourth London Legal Support Trust sponsored walk. The walk from the Royal Courts of Justice (RCJ) to the Law Society’s head office in Chancery Lane took place on 20th May.
• Rights of Fixed-Term Workers
  Law Centre (Northern Ireland) recently won an important Industrial Tribunal case establishing the rights of fixed-term workers who are affected by the Review of Public Administration. The Tribunal decided that the Western Health and Social Care Trust had discriminated against one of its employees because he worked on a fixed-term contract.
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