Annual Report
2004-2005
Virginia House
PL4 0EB
Tel: 01752-519794
Fax: 01752-519795
Email:
information@devonlawcentre.org.uk
Chair’s Report
Each and every year in the
life of a Law Centre is important. There are, however, a good number of reasons
to think of this as a landmark year. In the first instance, the Law Centre will
celebrate its fifth year of operation in the coming year. Many clients have
been helped by a dedicated staff group since it first opened its doors in June
2001. The year 2005 has, however, provided more legal advice to clients than
any year previously. The Law Centre exists to enhance the lives of some of the
most deprived and disadvantaged people in the South West. This underpins
everything that we do. Some of the success stories in meeting the legal rights
and entitlements of clients who have contacted the Law Centre are told
elsewhere in this report.
Second, there are plans to
move to new premises. The Law Centre, Citizens Advice, Shelter and Plymouth
Independent Living are shortly to move to Cobourg House in
The third bit of good news
is that the Law Centre has been very successful this year in obtaining funding
from other sources than the Legal Services Commission. First, the Department for
Work and Pensions funded a two year welfare benefits take up campaign for older
people. Then, the Lloyds TSB Foundation for
Whilst all of this is
momentous news and cause for celebration, much, as always, remains to be done.
The combination of the move to Cobourg House, and the kind of work that can be
undertaken as a result of the grants referred to above will open up new
opportunities and challenges to the Centre. Other challenges for staff and
management committee members alike are to find organisational structures that
are perhaps better suited to the delivery of the service. The need to connect
with other agencies and the local authorities in the area remains as strong as
ever. Perhaps most importantly of all, as noted, whilst the Centre has been
successful in attracting a variety of funding, there remains the need to put
the Centre on a sounder financial footing.
Finally, I have to report
that this will be my last year as Chair of the Management Committee. This has not been an easy decision to make, as
the Law Centre stands at an important crossroads and if the right direction is
taken then the Centre has the potential to be at the very heart of the
Devon Law Centre benefits
from having both a highly motivated staff group and a collection of very talented
people on the management committee. I would like to take this opportunity to
thank them all for their support, contribution and dedication.
Will Hay
Chair, Management Committee
Administration report
1. The year in numbers
Since opening in June 2001, Devon Law Centre has
helped over 3,000 people sort out problems relating to Community Care,
Education, Housing, Immigration and Welfare Benefits.
In the year ending
Table One: Cases opened in
2004-2005 (2003-2004
figures in brackets)
|
Subject |
Total cases |
Comparison with previous
year |
|
Community Care |
69 (70) |
-1% |
|
Education |
46 (60) |
-24% |
|
Housing |
296 (326) |
-10% |
|
Immigration |
397 (344) |
+15% |
|
Welfare Benefits / Debt |
110 (-) |
+100% |
|
Totals |
918 (800) |
+15% |
Notes:
As of August 2005, we have 263 open cases, not
including short one-off advice sessions. This breaks down as:
2. Client Satisfaction Survey
The annual client satisfaction survey took place over
the three months January to March 2005, when a form was sent to every client
whose case was closed.
Summary
of results and comparison with 2004
Other
comments received
·
“Thank you for the time you have given to me and
for always being there to help.”
·
“We felt that we were listened to and understood
... We have recommended you to others. ... Thank you for all the support you
gave us at an awful time for us.”
·
“You fought for my rights and you succeeded.”
·
“You could not have been more helpful.”
·
“If it wasn't for you fighting my case I would be
homeless. Thank you.”
3. Signposting
We continue to spend a considerable amount of time
signposting telephone and personal callers to other agencies because they
require advice and information outside our areas of expertise. However, the
opening of the Community Legal Service helpline has contributed to a reduction
in the number of such calls.
We have also developed a short session, consisting of
a presentation and activity, to help people in other agencies understand what
we do and make appropriate referrals. Margaret Prior has delivered three such
sessions, to the Plymouth Citizens’ Advice Bureau, Plymouth Connexions, and at
a meeting of the Disability Action Network. As time allows, we hope to do more
of this work.
4. Geographical spread of clients
Overall, 69% of our clients come from
Table Two: Geographical spread
of clients, 2004-2005
|
|
|
Rest of |
|
Other |
|
Comm. Care & Education |
59% |
31% |
10% |
- |
|
Housing |
83% |
11% |
5% |
1% |
|
Immigration |
59% |
28% |
11% |
2% |
|
Welfare Benefits |
77% |
23% |
- |
- |
|
All areas of law |
69% |
22% |
8% |
1% |
5. Computers
We have been very fortunate
this year to benefit from a significant contribution from the Legal Services
Commission (LSC) for new computer equipment for the office, given that the
equipment we were using was fast becoming obsolete and, at times, very
unreliable. The Law Centre staff would
like to thank the LSC for their financial support.
Although we contacted local
computer consultants to quote for this project, we felt that not only did they
fail to address the full requirements of the Law Centre, it would not be
possible to keep within our budget and so an alternative solution had to be
found.
With the assistance of Nick
Bradley, who is currently helping us in the finance department, and Oliver
Jones we managed to identify brand new equipment which not only meets our current
needs but will be adaptable should our staffing arrangements change in the
future. Microsoft kindly donated some essential software and Grisoft Inc.
offered us a 50% reduction on an excellent antivirus package.
The new system was set up
over one weekend in August and all our data was successfully transferred over
from the old network to the new. This
means the Law Centre now has a reliable up-to-date and fully networked computer
system with appropriate security measures in place
A big thank you goes to
Nick and Oliver for all their efforts.
6. Other administration
Our part time Administrative Assistant, Freya Edwards,
has now been with us for one year, and has made a major contribution to the
smooth running of the office.
Margaret Prior
Administrator
Community Care
We have once again been dealing with a large variety
of cases in community care involving assessments, residential accommodation,
young care leavers, adaptations, and withdrawal of services.
Increasingly people in Devon are becoming more aware
of the Law Centre and are contacting us either directly or through another
not-for-profit organisation when they have been unsuccessful in obtaining
assessments, services or adaptations from social services departments. The
employment of
We have had a number of successful outcomes for
clients who had been advised, prior to our involvement, that they were not
entitled to services. Our clients have included failed asylum seekers who are
homeless and destitute, older people in need of support services, and children
and young people who had been refused Children Act or Children Leaving Care Act
assessments.
Community Care success stories
Mr A was a failed asylum seeker with severe physical
and mental health problems. He was staying with relatives on whom he was
entirely dependent since the Local Authority refused to help, saying he had no
right to services. We pointed out that they did have a duty towards him because
of his health problems, and following our intervention the Local Authority agreed to assist with rent and subsistence money.
Mr R was a seventeen year
old boy who had been in Local Authority care almost continuously from the age
of twelve. He contacted us because the authority was refusing to
acknowledge that he was entitled to support under the Children (Leaving Care)
Act 2000. The authority had transferred him from foster care to supported
lodgings at the age of 15 and argued that this relieved them of any obligations
under the Act. He was faced with the possibility of homelessness. The
client told us that he had turned to drink and drugs because of his
problems in the past and was afraid he was going to end up falling back into
trouble. Eventually we persuaded the Local Authority to accept its
obligations: the client will shortly be moving into his own flat and
he is now receiving full support in accordance with the Act.
Mr D had been granted
refugee status and therefore had the same rights to Social Services assistance
as any
Sharon Lamerton, Lawyer
The focus in Education has
this year shifted to Special Educational Needs, with approximately half our
cases involving a pupil with Special Educational Needs of some sort. Bullying
problems and Exclusions make up most of the rest of our casework. Enquiries about School Admissions are no
longer common. It seems that parents are
more aware that it is increasingly difficult to win an admission appeal.
It is also increasingly
difficult to succeed in an appeal against permanent exclusion, however unjust
the exclusion appears. Whilst we have
sympathy with schools that do not have the resources to cope with difficult
pupils, the law is clear that exclusion should only be used when all other
alternatives have been tried. Sadly
there are often very few alternatives available and too many children,
particularly teenage boys, are not receiving the education they need.
On a more positive note, we
have taken a number of cases to a successful conclusion.
Education success stories
R was a twelve-year-old boy
with Asperger’s syndrome and a complex combination of learning difficulties. He
was educated at home for about five years following bullying at his primary
school, but his parents were finding it increasingly difficult to cope. Their
requests for help to the Local Education Authority resulted in the pupil being
statemented but there was little specific provision detailed in the statement
and the boy was required to attend his local large community college, which the
parents knew was quite unsuitable for him. We instructed an independent
Educational Psychologist who diagnosed the complexity of R’s learning
difficulties and who agreed with the parents’ concerns about the suitability of
the local school. We also assisted the parents with their appeal to the Special
Educational Needs Tribunal, where the
B, a teenage girl, was
being very badly bullied at her secondary school. She began refusing to attend
school and her parents were seriously worried about her. We negotiated with the
school and the
S, a boy with mild learning
difficulties, had been unable to attend secondary school for over two years
because the
Sharon Lamerton, Lawyer
Housing
The Law Centre has continued to have successes in
relation to housing cases. Often people who seek our advice are wholly unaware
of their rights and the procedures they need to follow to assert those rights.
They are frequently very distressed and unaware of the often simple steps that
can prevent them from losing their home. It is very common for people to avoid
their problems and bury their heads in the sand. It is for this reason that the
Law Centre is committed to the Court duty scheme when many people attend on the
verge of eviction.
Unfortunately we have seen a steady increase in the
number of mortgage possession cases over the last year. These result from
oppressive credit arrangements and difficult family circumstances leading to
debt. For example I recently dealt with a borrower who was lent 6 times her
salary and was paying 9.4% interest.
A key area where people need specialist advice is
homeless appeals which often involve complex points of law. Over the last year
there have been a number of key cases looking at the assessment of
“vulnerability” in the homeless context. Unfortunately, due to funding
restrictions the Law Centre is not able to deal with this challenging area of law
at the present time and we hear that a number of people with strong cases are
going to Court unrepresented. We will be looking at ways of responding to this
need over the coming year.
Despite the continued limited funding we have achieved
a number of successes over the last year.
Housing success stories
My client was a housing association tenant. She was
referred by her health visitor who on opening her post had discovered that she
had £1700 rent arrears and an outright possession order had been made in
respect of her home. She was about to be evicted. She was living in the flat
with her young son and was suffering severe depression. I supported her in
applying for backdated benefit. Housing benefit confirmed that they would award
full housing benefit to the start of the tenancy putting her account in credit.
The Court set aside the possession order.
Miss T, a black EEA National applied to the Council as
homeless. She had come to the
Miss P was a young mother living in a Council flat. In
late 2003 she had a fire at her flat which caused substantial damage. She did
not feel able to return to the flat and stayed with relatives. She tried to get
the Council to make the flat habitable for her and her young child but felt she
was banging her head against brick wall.
She was at the end of her tether because her relative’s house was overcrowded.
She visited the Law Centre in May 2005 and explained her problem. We visited
the flat and found the there remained smoke damage and considerable damp and
mould as a result of water and non-occupation. We threatened the Council with
Court action on the basis that the premises were unfit for human habitation.
Within weeks the Council undertook the necessary works for our client to return
to her home.
Ann Holdsworth
Housing Solicitor.
Immigration
The Law Centre continues to
assist clients with a vast range of immigration matters including asylum
seeking, citizenship, and leave to remain under the Immigration Rules and under
European law. The Law Centre is now one of only two providers of immigration
advice in
Accreditation has been the
all important focus during the past 12 months following the Legal Services Commission
requirement that all advisers giving immigration advice after
However, the limits on the
time which can now be spent on an immigration or asylum case are very
restrictive. Consequently it can be very difficult to give a case the amount of
time necessary to establish the true facts and offer the appropriate
advice. A recent example is of an asylum
seeker whose case, which had to be prepared in five hours (irrespective of the
language difficulty), was refused by the Home Office as lacking credibility and
whose appeal was dismissed by the Immigration Judge. This lady has since
returned to the Law Centre with evidence of horrific injuries she had suffered
as a result of persecution: she had not had felt comfortable disclosing this in
the short time available to prepare her case. Fortunately, I have now obtained
funding for a thorough medical report to address the many issues of persecution
this client has suffered and will be submitting a fresh application to the Home
Office.
Obtaining LSC approval for
funding at appeals continues to be a major headache for us. We recently won an
appeal which the LSC had judged to have a poor prospect of success. However, it
must be recognised that a large number of clients have to attend appeal
hearings unassisted. The implications are that many clients who are
unsuccessful at appeal might have won if the resources had been available to
them and no doubt this is a result of the wider political agenda.
In order to overcome some
of the above difficulties, Stella Russell of the Law Centres Federation played
a major part in obtaining additional funding for a part time assistant. I am
very pleased that
On that note, I would like
to say that I am optimistic that, now we have adapted to all the new systems
and procedures introduced by legislation, the Legal Services Commission, and so
on, we will be able to focus our efforts on delivering a high quality service
to our clients.
Immigration success stories
Amongst a number of
successes this year, we have assisted:
·
Ms N, who was granted refugee status as a result of
a comprehensive psychological report which showed that she would almost
certainly have committed suicide if she had been returned to her home country.
·
Ms A, who was refused residency despite meeting all
the criteria. Her case went as far as a hearing before the Immigration Judge
before the errors made by the Home Office were reversed. The Home Office have
since acknowledged that their staff were largely unaware of the relevant law.
As a consequence they have now introduced a wide range of measures to improve
their procedures, including a comprehensive rewrite of the relevant Immigration
Directorate Instructions.
·
Ms X, who we helped to reunite with her overseas
husband: the couple telephoned us from the airport as soon as they had landed.
Immigration Adviser
Welfare Benefits and Older People
The Welfare Benefits take up project started in late
April 2005. Its main aim is to increase benefits take up by people who are 60
or over in
The first month of the project was mainly taken up
with promoting and publicising the service and targeting statutory and
voluntary agencies to encourage joint working with us. An initial assessment of
advice needs in
The time invested in setting up the project was time
well spent as now I receive regular referrals from other advice agencies across
I have been working hard in
I am also picking up benefit appeals along with
Commissioner’s appeals for some clients. I think this will provide a valuable
resource to the Devon Advice community.
I
have also been working with several clients in residential care or who need
community care services to help them remain independent at home. We have helped
them claim benefits when self funding and enable better service or financial
provision from the local authority. I work closely with the Community Care solicitors
when issues around Community Care arise, and have referred clients to them.
Estimated
financial gains from my work up to
Welfare Benefits success Stories
Mr W rang us for help after his appeal for Disability
Living Allowance was refused. He had very limited walking ability and was
unable to care for himself due to arthritis.
He lived with his partner who was also disabled. On an initial home
visit we identified entitlement to care allowance, which increased their weekly
income by £25.80. However, he wanted to know if he should pursue his disability
claim. This was Mr W’s third attempt at claiming and he was ready to give in.
However, we submitted an appeal to the Social Security Commissioners and the
tribunal decision was set aside. This enabled us to represent him at a new
tribunal and we were successful in securing both mobility and care components.
As a knock on effect this also meant that the couple could receive additional
Pension Credit. Our advice had enabled the couple to claim benefits totalling
over £9000 in backdated payments as well as a weekly increase of £183.60
Mr
Z is 75 years old and was referred to us by his Doctor. We had set up a weekly
surgery by appointment in Mr Zs Health Centre. He was having to move from a
first floor flat because his wife could no longer negotiate stairs and wanted
help from the Social Fund for removal costs. We carried out a full benefit
check and identified that they could claim Pension Credit. We also identified an additional claim for
Carers Allowance for his role as carer for his wife who was in receipt of
Attendance Allowance. The net result was an increase in their weekly income of
£36. I also helped him complete the Social Fund application for removal costs
and essential furniture to help them manage more independently in their new
home.
Mrs
F read one of our news items in a Community News Letter. She had applied for
Attendance Allowance and been refused and wanted to know if this was right. We
arranged a home visit and after a long discussion of her care needs and
financial position we felt that more information could be provided to help with
a supersession (review) of her claim. We wrote to Mrs F’s doctor for further
evidence of how her medical condition affected her and provided a detailed
letter asking for a supersession. The decision was altered to award the low
rate of Attendance Allowance. We followed up this success to identify a new
entitlement to Pension Credit, both guarantee and savings. This also meant she
could now get full Council Tax Benefit even though her savings exceeded £16,000.
Her net gain following our help amounted to £68.29 per week.
Stuart Toll
Welfare Benefits Caseworker
Devon Law Centre people
Volunteers
Management Committee
Employees
Thank you
Devon Law Centre thanks our funders:
We also wish to thank the following donors: