It’s been ten years since The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 came into effect on 1 April 2013 and it had a huge impact on legal aid services, meaning people were cut off from accessing justice in many cases, effectively overnight. This caused legal aid and advice deserts, where advice and support was simply not available to those unable to afford to pay privately.

North Yorkshire is a beautiful part of the country, with countryside to seaside, which naturally gives rise to some very rural areas. Technology and transport difficulties can make it difficult for people in rural communities to access free, independent legal advice. 10 years ago this was worsened by the introduction of legislation in April 2013 which drastically cut the types of cases legal aid is available in, effectively cutting off  access to justice overnight for those unable to afford to pay privately. This caused advice deserts, where advice and support was simply not available to those unable to afford to pay privately. This was worsened following the coronavirus pandemic, when many free advice agencies were forced to close their doors due to lack of funding.

We wanted to bring back those advice services to our community. To help ensure we reach everyone even if the most rural locations, we introduced an advice bus which travels to community events and local markets to ensure everyone can access our services and, in December 2022, were very proud to open North Yorkshire’s first Law Centre.

Being part of the Law Centre Network enables us to provide additional services to our community, including legal advice, casework and representation from specially trained caseworkers. We specialise in Housing, Family, Discrimination and Immigration & Asylum and use our in-depth knowledge of the issues our community faces to help save people’s homes, protect their families and seek fair justice.

Photo: Rob Fox, a Housing Caseworker, in Malton

Our caseworkers all work to the Law Society’s legal practice quality mark and have specialist training in their area of law. Their legal advice and assistance can help empower people to resolve their matters and support them to do so.

The Community Justice Fund’s Funding Gap Report on the Free Legal Advice Sector 2023-24 demonstrates that the free legal advice sector is facing a £30 million funding gap, and over 40,000 people who are most impacted by the cost of living crisis potentially going without the advice and assistance they need. We already benefit from some specialist funding through the Access to Justice Foundation and are always looking to raise more funds to help create a society where everyone has access to justice. To help this, we are taking part in the Access to Justice Foundation’s Legal Walk in York on 6th June 2023. If you’re interested in supporting us you can find out more information or make a donation here.

You can also read more about our Law Centre and get in touch with us on our website here.

Contact: Rachel Allen - Head of Partnerships - [email protected]