A law centre that has been supporting poor, vulnerable and excluded members of society for nearly half a century has been forced to temporarily shut its doors due to a lack of funding.
Hillingdon Law Centre announced on social media platform X yesterday afternoon that its services are temporarily suspended 'while we urgently address a funding shortfall'.
It added: ‘We have not taken this decision lightly, and our whole focus is on reopening as quickly as possible. We are continuing to work with all our existing clients to ensure your cases are protected and, where necessary, transferred to alternative representation.'
Law Centres Network director Julie Bishop said the temporary closure was a stark reminder of a fragile legal aid system that communities depend on.
‘Hillingdon Law Centre has provided quality legal advice and representation for nearly fifty years to renters at risk of homelessness, to workers with nowhere else to turn, to asylum seekers and refugees navigating complex immigration issues. The people it serves did not have the option of finding a private solicitor which is precisely why a Law Centre existed there,’ Bishop added.
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‘That this closure comes in the same week that the Renters' Rights Act abolishes Section 21 is particularly painful and demand for housing legal advice in the communities Hillingdon Law Centre serves is only expected to grow.’
The Law Centres Network is working with Hillingdon to reopen its doors ‘because no law centre should have to face this alone', Bishop said. 'But the truth is, too many are. Across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, law centres are being held together by short-term grants, emergency fundraising, and the extraordinary dedication of their staff. Hillingdon's situation is a symptom of a legal aid funding model that has been pushed past breaking point’.
Urging the government to act, Bishop said a community’s ability to access legal assistance ‘should not depend on a charity’s ability to find its next grant’.
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