The shortcomings of the Community Legal Service expose the failure of law firms to provide for the socially excluded, argues Angus Andrew

If the Community Legal Service (CLS) has not lived up to expectations it is not for lack of effort on the part of those who have contributed to it, not least legal aid lawyers. And yet some one million legal problems go unresolved each year, and those worst affected are the socially excluded.


Many of the causes are not difficult to identify. For the poorest, problems do not come singly but in clusters, and yet few firms provide a comprehensive social welfare law service. Poor health often causes legal problems that go unnoticed by the medical profession. Of those that do get legal help, many obtain it from advice agencies that cannot provide litigation support when required. This fragmentation of service provision leads to constant referrals, but the evidence of referral fatigue is overwhelming among the most disadvantaged.


Equally, those most in need live predominantly in the poorest areas, where a disproportionately small number of providers choose to practise. Most advice is still delivered by expensive face-to-face provision despite 98% of the population now having access to a telephone and many preferring it as a means of communication. Although not often appreciated, a substantial proportion of CLS funding comes from local authorities, charitable institutions and government departments other than the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) - but that funding often duplicates rather than complements the services funded through the Legal Services Commission.


To address these issues, the commission has just published for consultation its strategy for the CLS (see: www.legalservices.gov.uk). The commission proposes more effectively to co-ordinate existing funding streams and the services provided by those funders. It proposes to expand the provision of telephone advice, building on the success of CLS Direct. It will pilot several community legal and advice centres offering a seamless service in the most deprived areas - existing providers will be able to bid either individually or collectively to run those centres.


In other areas, it proposes to pilot community legal and advice networks, bringing existing providers together to provide an integrated service. It expects both centres and networks to provide outreach locations, such as GP surgeries.


Outside the pilot areas, it intends to develop a single social welfare law category to address the issue of referral fatigue. It will encourage those specialising in crime and family to work with the centres and networks and to develop their own welfare law expertise to provide a more holistic service.


The strategy needs to be considered in the context of the DCA's recently published consultation paper on the funding of legal aid - A Fairer deal for Legal Aid - and the commission's consultation paper on preferred suppliers to be published towards the end of the year. The former seeks to achieve savings within the existing justice system, in particular relating to the small number of cases that account for a disproportionate share of the legal aid budget. The latter will seek to establish a better relationship with those providers that are able and willing to deliver the integrated, affordable, quality services that the commission wishes to purchase on behalf of the most disadvantaged.


I have sympathy for those who consider that they have not been adequately rewarded for their work. However, before we can legitimately expect taxpayers to dig further into their pockets, we must be able to demonstrate that we have done everything reasonably possible to deliver a cost-effective service that meets the needs of the most socially excluded.


Solicitor Angus Andrew is a non-executive director of the LSC