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I have had the honour of working for this firm since it was founded in early 2009, in a support role. The commitment of the staff and Directors to help the poor and vulnerable in our society has been unwavering in the face of LASPO and they have struggled to maintain a service for those in desperate need. It was heartbreaking to hear that we had lost the fight as we all knew what that meant; while we can all move to other jobs we fear that the ever expanding social welfare law advice deserts will continue to grow and more and more of those who need advice the greatest will get lost in those deserts and continue to suffer at the hands of bad landlords, badly managed local authorities and the dreaded DWP amongst others.

The only driver behind the savage cuts imposed by LASPO were economic & political - to deny justice to those least able to afford it in the face of bad business and the might of the state machine. It was politically motivated, nothing else. Take away people's ability to defend themselves then inflict suffering on them. Shameful.

The sad truth is that as more and more social welfare law firms fade away it will have knock on effect on the social welfare lawyers that are practising - there will come a time when the social welfare lawyer will be a thing of the past and that, in a civilised society, is a bad, bad thing.

I take my hat off the the Helen Williams' of this world; there is no money or glory in social welfare law, the only reward being the wins for our clients and the satisfaction that someone has gained or retained their welfare benefits in the face of the mighty DWP machine or we have saved a family from losing their home. One thing is sure they certainly don't do it for the money.

Thank you Helen for your leadership, unwavering belief and commitment to the cause for the last ten years and let's hope that political change in the not-so-distant future can bring about some reversal of these cruel changes.