Increase Public Understanding

Future Advice - Provision of not for profit Specialist Advice

Grant: £8,666
February 11, 2015

The project is to share specialist advice in the not-for-profit sector across the North East and Yorkshire, making it available to all those needing it.

The project will concentrate on – housing, employment, immigration, family discrimination and community care law.

Future Advice - Model for Refugee Family Reunion Utilising the Skills and Experience of Refugee Volunteers

Grant: £29,000
February 11, 2015

The project is to share the results of a refugee family reunion project and service model.

Street Legal

Grant: £66,000
February 11, 2015

Street Legal is a cross-sector partnership bringing together St Mungo’s Broadway, Refugee Action and Praxis Community Projects.

The philosophy of the Street Legal programme is to take the service to the hardest to reach groups – those that are not accessing building-based homelessness and immigration services, or are not well served by them due to a lack of flexibility and understanding of the complex needs of the client group by mainstream providers. We advocate for immigration issues to be seen as a support need, rather than as a barrier to accessing support.

The aim of Street Legal is to ensure all clients have a route out of rough sleeping either by:

• Resolving their immigration situation, securing necessary documentation and securing housing and support both during the process and following its resolution or
• Facilitating a dignified return to a home country through assisted voluntary return.

The Low Implementation Project

Grant: £45,900
August 8, 2014

There are many settings in our community where people can identify individuals who need informal advice, such as GP surgeries, community centres, faith groups etc. This project will provide an online information source for social welfare law practitioners in three areas of social welfare law – employment, housing and community care. It will cover topics such as housing, employment and community care law including self-help guides on common legal problems.

LAG was instrumental in establishing and supporting the Low Commission on the Future of Advice and Legal Support which aimed to address the challenges facing social welfare law. The LIP will be active in the run-up to the general election seeking to inform the political parties and public opinion in support the recommendations of the Commission. This grant will allow LAG to engage additional public affairs and PR resources to raise the profile and engagement with this project.

Locally-driven Public Legal Education

Grant: £55,300
August 8, 2014

Community Links (est. 1977) is an east London charity working to tackle poverty and social exclusion in Newham by finding new solutions to old problems and to deliver them with the whole community. The proposed project will develop tools and ideas about how to achieve locally-driven public legal education that provides access to legal advice in new ways to people who need it. The project will also promote the role of volunteers in delivering legal advice and support them into potential careers in legal services. The work to be carried out is rooted in east London, but could be applied elsewhere, ensuring the project has a much wider impact. Specific tasks include:

• Mapping professional development opportunities for volunteers without formal legal education but involved in delivering basic legal advice
• strengthening of our network of 50 Community Advice Champions
• Upskilling Community Advice Champions
• Project evaluation and sharing the learning with other organisations.

Benefit Assessment Advocacy Programme

Grant: £61,000
August 8, 2014

This project is one of the three strands within its Benefit Assessment Advocacy Programme, the production of public education resources. The main focus is on the development of two benefit assessment apps, relating to the WCA process to access ESA, and the PIP assessment process respectively. These will be downloadable to mobile phones/ tablets. Applicants will use them to prepare themselves for their benefit assessment, in terms of being aware of the questions they will be asked, having the opportunity to prepare their answers, and providing them with an estimated score on the assessment and therefore a predicted outcome for their claim. The mobile apps will be backed by the creation of a more traditional website tool covering the same ground. SEAP will also script, produce and distribute online videos exploring different scenarios within the assessment process.

The Low Implementation Project

Grant: £10,000
April 30, 2014

There are many settings in our community where people can identify individuals who need informal advice, such as GP surgeries, community centres, faith groups etc. This project will provide an online information source for social welfare law practitioners in three areas of social welfare law – employment, housing and community care. It will cover topics such as housing, employment and community care law including self-help guides on common legal problems.

LAG was instrumental in establishing and supporting the Low Commission on the Future of Advice and Legal Support which aimed to address the challenges facing social welfare law. The LIP will be active in the run-up to the general election seeking to inform the political parties and public opinion in support the recommendations of the Commission. This grant will allow LAG to engage additional public affairs and PR resources to raise the profile and engagement with this project.

Public legal education materials on welfare rights

Grant: £29,000
November 27, 2013

Public legal education materials on welfare rights. Aims to increase the skills and knowledge of people affected by welfare benefit changes and to equip them with the necessary tools to advocate on their own behalves and run their own cases. Materials will be made available online.

Interactive game for Social Security Tribunal

Grant: £30,000
November 27, 2013

Many vulnerable individuals find themselves needing to make appeals against Social Security decisions, but don’t know how. Most have long-term health problems and will have mental and/or physical illnesses. The appeals process can be daunting – often they’re expected to sit in front of a panel of professionals.

This project will develop an online game to ensure claimants can learn exactly how the tribunal process works in an engaging and interesting way. The project will also offer followup face-to-face informational group workshops. The game will be shared for free through the CAB network and could be shared with other voluntary organisations for free and on subscription to not for-profit companies. The project funding will also cover training packs for volunteers and staff delivering the workshops effectively.

CourtNav

Grant: £42,000
November 27, 2013

Further develop a County Court module for CourtNav which is an interactive online tool developed by the Royal Courts of Justice Advice Bureau (RCJAB) in partnership with Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP. The tool is designed to help Litigants in Person (LIPs) who cannot afford a solicitor to complete court forms and understand the procedure that they should follow.