Research
December 2008 Civil and Social Justice Research 2007
Report by the Legal Services Research Centre: 2007_Civil_and_Social_Justice_Survey.pdf Published 2008
September 2008 It’s the System Stupid! Radically Rethinking Advice
AdviceUK’s report ‘It’s the System Stupid! Radically Rethinking Advice’, funded by the Baring Foundation, shows that wasteful public services and legal advice reforms are preventing advisers from meeting the needs of vulnerable people.
The report’s key findings are:
Advice agencies struggle to cope with demand caused by the failings of the Department for Work and Pensions, HM Revenue and Customs and Housing Benefit Offices, yet win 90% of such cases on procedural grounds.
Advice services are hampered by contractual restrictions. For example, Legal Aid reforms have led advice organisations to restrict the things they could do for clients in order to meet targets. One of the main recommendation from the report is to reconsider top-down initiatives such as Legal Aid reforms and plans for jointly commissioned ‘super-centres’.
The Report of AdviceUK’s RADICAL Advice Project October 2007 - June 2008 is here:
Radically_Rethinking_Advice_09.08_.pdf
September 2008 The Socio-Economic Value of Law Centres
The Law Centres Federation commissioned the New Economics Foundation (nef) to assist with the production of a short piece of research examining the socio-economic value of the impacts of the work of Law Centres.
The estimates produced for the socio-economic benefits produced by the case studies reviewed demonstrate the significant socio-economic value that Law Centres provide to the individuals they assist, and other stakeholders affected by the intervention.
• For the individual case study reviewed, every £1 invested generated benefits in excess of £15.
• For the public legal education programme, every £1 invested generated benefits of £25.
These figures relate to the first draft of the report, which was completed in August 2008. The final report will be posted here as it appears.
May 2008 Ensuring Access to Environmental Justice
In a Report published in May, a working party chaired by the Hon Mr Justice Sullivan declared that changes must be implemented in the court rules on costs that effectively prevent individuals and groups from bringing legal challenges to environmental decisions, if the UK is not to breach the Aarhus Convention.
Ensuring_Environmental_Justice_May_08.pdf
May 2008 Hard Work, Hidden Lives
Research commissioned by the TUC’s Commission on Vulnerable Employees (CoVE) Published in May 2008. Chapter two (page 33) ‘Increasing Awareness and Advice’ sets out the scale of the problem and possible solutions. Hard_Work,_Hidden_Lives_Full_Report_05.08.pdf
Summary: Hard_Work,_Hidden_Lives_05.08.pdf
April 2008 Getting Past Reception
Getting Past Reception: Access and intake systems in Not for Profit legal services providers. Research by Mark Sefton published by the Advice Services Alliance in April 2008.
Getting_Past_Reception_ASA_April_2008.pdf
February 2008 Measuring Outcomes of Employment Advice
Research by Shanta Bhavnani from the Advice Services Alliance on measuring the outcomes of employment advice. Initial findings from the Islington Law Centre pilot. Published in February 2008.
ASA_measuring_outcomes_of_Employment_Advice_Feb_08.pdf
August 2007 Civil and Social Needs in Later Life
Age Concern has just published ‘Civil and Social Justice Needs in Later Life’, which is a report of findings from the Legal Services Research Centre’s secondary analysis of its 2004 national periodic survey.
It is often assumed that later life is a time when there are fewer needs for legal advice and redress because people have completed certain key life stages. However, there is limited evidence about whether this assumption holds true. Other key events might become more relevant in later life, for example moving into sheltered or residential accommodation; substitute decision-making such as Power of Attorney; and end of life issues such as advance care directives, wills and probate.
This data goes some way towards exploring older people’s needs for information and support regarding civil and social justice problems . Our report shows, for example, that giving up and doing nothing about a civil law problem become increasingly common with age - and that being isolated in later life increases the level of stress experienced as a result of problems. The report also highlights a need to expand the information collated and monitored through national surveys.
Age_Concern_CivilSocialJusticereport.pdf
July 2007 Third Sector Review
A Summary from NCVOThird_Sector_Review.doc
Final report by the Treasury and the Cabinet Office future_of_the_third_sector_in_social_economicregeneration.pdf
May 2007 Advice in the Future
Report providing an analysis of the future changes that are most likely to affect advice organisation in the next ten years.
The Report was written by Natelie Williams and Megan Griffith from NCVO Third Sector Foresight.
Advice_in_the_Future_Summary_May_2007.pdf
Advice_in_the_Future_05.07.pdf
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