The Legal Aid Practitioners Group (LAPG) week of action starts on 3 July, in protest against the way in which low remuneration rates for publicly funded work in general, and for advice and assistance work in particular, are damaging the ability of clients to obtain the legal advice they need.This issue is threatening to leave the Community Legal Service dead in the water before it has a chance to do any good.By an ironic stroke of timing, the Legal Services Commission (LSC) has chosen now to inform us that it is not going to implement in full even the very limited increase in rates that the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, announced.

We would like to leave the government and the LSC in no doubt as to the profession's views on this.If practitioners have not had our campaign pack already, they should receive it very shortly.

Our aim is to give contracted firms themselves a way of telling the government that the present situation cannot continue; that dedicated, quality firms are having to withdraw from publicly funded work; and that clients are suffering.

We would also like to make people aware that we are not fat cats creaming off the system, but are dedicated professionals trying to provide a service to our communities in the same way that doctors do, but earning a lot less than those doctors.So what are we asking you to do? Well, almost anything you can think of, so long as it does not harm clients or put you in breach of contract.

Our campaign pack lists some ideas you may wish to consider.

You may want to ask your MP to spend time in your office.

You might wish to write to the Lord Chancellor's Department and the Treasury to explain what it is like trying to do this work, and run a business at these rates, year in and year out.

Despite press reports to the contrary, it is not a strike.

We are not recommending that firms refuse to see clients or do anything else that might harm clients' interests.Another idea is to write to all clients telling them about the difficulties we face.Many firms are already having to turn people away, beca use they have reached their physical capacity and cannot afford to expand, or have decided not to continue with legal aid work.

We have therefore drafted a form, which can be given to clients to explain why we cannot advise them as we would wish to do.We also want firms to try to obtain coverage in local papers and on radio for the action they are taking and the reasons behind it.

Our campaign pack will help with all of these ideas.It goes without saying that the greater the numbers of firms who mark the week of action, the stronger will be the message to the government.

We would therefore urge all firms to do something to show their support.

Everything from a small gesture by an individual firm to a week-long campaign by groups of firms will help.If you want any help or guidance in planning anything, please contact the LAPG office on 020 7336 8565, or e-mail us (richard@lapg.co.uk).

The campaign pack will shortly be available from our Web site at www.lapg.co.uk