Legal Services Review
Citizens Advice Welcomes Legal Services Review
7th June 2010
Citizens Advice today welcomed Justice Minister David Ford’s announcement of a review of public legal services. The review would consider whether legal aid should be made available to people using advice centres such as CAB saying: "You only have to look at the excellent work being done by Citizens Advice, Advice NI and the Law Centre to see what I have in mind."
Derek Alcorn, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice said:
“This is a very positive development and will allow more people to secure access to justice. The voluntary sector is a key player alongside the legal profession and other bodies who provide legal advice. We look forward to working with the Department of Justice on how best to deliver legal services locally.”
CAB provides legal advice and representation at Social Security Tribunals, bankruptcy hearings and in the Small Claims Court. Statistics from The Appeals Service (NI) show the importance of independent representation in social security tribunals by the fact that only 22% of unrepresented appeals were successful compared to 46% of cases where the appellant was represented. Funding needs to be made available to provide dedicated social security advocacy posts across Northern Ireland to tackle this problem.
Notes to Editors:
1. Citizens Advice is the largest advice charity in Northern Ireland working against poverty, meeting the information and advice needs of some 92,000 people per year and dealing with over 321,000 issues.
2. Citizens Advice Northern Ireland has formal links to National Citizens Advice in England and Wales and close working relationships with Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS). Together the three associations constitute the largest advice network in Europe, with over 60 year’s experience of providing advice and information to the public.
3. The advice provided by the Citizens Advice service is free, independent, confidential, and impartial, and available to everyone regardless of race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion, age or nationality.
4. Citizens Advice is currently managing a £1.2m contract from DETI for the provision of debt advice in Northern Ireland and a contract from the Social Security Agency for benefit take up which is targeted on 25,000 people.