ANNUAL REPORT 2009 Index Free Representation Unit Annual Report to 31 March 2009 Page Chair’s Introduction 1 Case Studies 2-11 Trustees’ Report 12-16 Legal and Administrative Information 17 Independent Auditors’ Report 18 Statement of Financial Activities 19 Balance Sheet 20 Principal Accounting Policies 21 Notes to the Accounts 22-26 Donors 27-28 We are most grateful to Royle Financial Print Limited for their generous sponsorship of the costs of this annual report. The case studies on pages 2 to 11 show a few of our volunteer representatives (‘reps’) and tell the stories of some of the cases which they have handled. In those stories, the client names used are fictitious but do together give an indication of the gender and ethnic origin of our clients. The cover photograph is of FRU volunteer Sarah-Jane Smiles, who tells the story of one of her cases on page 10. Photograph by Patrick Barth © King’s College London. Chair’s Introduction As usual, Clive Tulloch has been so successful in providing “more volunteers are being recruited a link between staff and the management committee that it and more cases are being completed in becomes hard to see how FRU ever managed without him. both of the core areas of employment We are also grateful to our funders, without whom FRU would and social security law” not have achieved such an excellent set of financial results this year. Regrettably, this will not continue unless new sources FRU has enjoyed another successful year. A change to the of funding are found for the future, especially in these difficult ratification process has meant that more volunteers are being economic times. recruited and that more cases are being completed in both of There has always been more to FRU than work and the the core areas of employment and social security law. This has atmosphere in the office has been particularly lively this year resulted in more cases being referred by our referral agencies, with the increase in the number of reps. There have also been a trend that we hope will continue in future years. A small successful social events including a quiz to welcome new reps selection of our cases is set out on pages 2 to 11. at the start of the academic year and a well-attended Christmas A small number of the cases taken on by FRU have been not event which took place at the Knight’s Templar pub. in the South-East but in the East Midlands, with the opening The mock tribunal to celebrate National Pro Bono Week has now of a new branch in Nottingham, in association with our friends become something of an annual FRU tradition which, this year, at Nottingham Law School. This exciting development remains marked the transition from the Social Security Commissioners in its early days but, if it is successful, it is hoped that similar to the Administrative Appeals Chamber of the Upper Tribunal by schemes will be introduced in other cities, helping FRU to staging an income support case, kindly hosted by Freshfields achieve its goal of becoming a truly national organisation. Bruckhaus Deringer, which was the most entertaining to date, There are no immediate plans to make any other dramatic as the panel engaged fully with the issue that was before them. changes. I stood for election on a platform of consolidation and Unusually, this year, FRU was featured in a prime-time television it is a testament to the success of the FRU model that my rival programme, when one of our reps, Kakoly Pandé, took part in for the role of chair advocated a similar position. I continue to the BBC2 documentary series ‘The Barristers’, in which she was see no reason to make changes for the sake of it and regard shown meeting a client at our offices. It is hoped that, as well stability as a strength rather than a sign of inaction. as softening the public perception of the legal profession, it also The look of FRU has changed this year with much needed showed the worth of legal charities. It is also hoped that, with or updates to the website and to the database, including a brand without the public gaze upon it, FRU will continue to thrive. new logo. We are very grateful for the pro bono support that we have received from School Digital in making these changes. We are also grateful for the contribution of the staff, in this and other matters. That FRU could not run without its legal officers and administrators sometimes seems too obvious to mention but I do want to acknowledge their ongoing commitment towards James Medhurst the success of the charity. Chair 2nd December 2009 1 Case Studies Jenny Barnes is a trainee solicitor with Linklaters, and was seconded to the FRU for three very rewarding months. She studied History at Cambridge, and then went on to do the GDL and LPC in London. Barbara Arosio came to FRU because she was facing an application for a costs order for approximately £30,000 in relation to a tribunal claim that she had recently lost against her previous employers. Right or wrong in her tribunal claim, when Barbara came to FRU she was depressed, fraught and scared by the prospect of having to pay the legal fees of her ex-employer. Jenny Barnes Barbara had worked very hard for her whole life and was proud to provide a home for her three children by herself. She had incurred vast credit card and bank debt in order to fund her tribunal claim and being ordered to pay the hefty costs order would have been disastrous for her and her family. Jenny successfully resisted the costs application on behalf of Barbara against a very well qualified barrister. Barbara was overcome with relief after the successful verdict and told Jenny that she hoped to be able to move on from her disappointment at tribunal and get her life back on track. Gabriel Barton studied History and International Relations at the Sorbonne, was a pupil at Essex Court Chambers and currently volunteers at Camden Community Law Centre. Aside from FRU work, he is devoted to mastering end-to-end team basketball: he says he needs more practice. Jason Smedley worked for his uncle as a bookbinder. Jason’s uncle, who managed the business, liked to belittle Jason. One day, when Jason finally had the courage to stand up for himself, his uncle attacked him. The uncle pushed Jason in the back, repeatedly aggressively swore at him and told him if he did not like his treatment he could leave. Jason was very upset and felt he could not go back to work. Gabriel Barton Having accepted the repudiation of his contract, Jason found himself out of work for some months. He decided to bring an unfair dismissal claim to show his uncle that his behaviour was outrageous and to recoup some of his losses. The uncle retaliated by giving Jason a bad reference and by withholding an unpaid annual bonus. We prepared Jason’s case very thoroughly and despite attempts by the uncle’s representative to intimidate Jason into giving up, made it clear that the case would fight. Once the uncle’s representative had seen how detailed and compelling our witness statements were, he advised settlement. We achieved 90% of the sum sought and Jason has now been able to pay off his credit cards and put this difficult episode behind him. Oliver Bennett was working in IT marketing when he decided to become a barrister. He started by studying law with the Open University, and loved it so much that he finished his degree full-time at SOAS. He has just completed the BVC at City Law School (formerly ICSL) and has spent his year undertaking social security representation for FRU clients. Oliver has an interest in Islamic culture, history and law and speaks some Arabic thanks to spending his undergraduate summers studying in Syria. Emma Jones is in her late twenties and suffers severely from sickle cell disease. The pain in her joints Oliver Bennett can become so bad that only opiate analgesia offers relief. She was a shop assistant a few years ago, but could not continue because even light duties exacerbate her condition. When her Incapacity Benefit was due for review last year, she was examined by a DWP medical examiner. Emma felt that he had been unable to appreciate fully the effect of her condition and the benefit was withdrawn. Oliver represented her on appeal before tribunal as his first case for FRU. He argued that although she appeared to function normally without pain during the examination, the DWP had failed to consider whether or not she was able to do so with reasonable regularity. The tribunal agreed and allowed her appeal. 2 Ian Birch read economics at Cambridge. He ran his own consulting business and worked at Transport for London for a number of years before deciding to take his GDL at City University in London. He has just started his BVC at BPP Law School. He spent six weeks last summer in Sydney, gaining experience of life at the Australian Bar, with Alun Hill of Chalfont Chambers. When not studying he likes to go ballroom dancing. Ian represented Tracey Gilmour, a student, in her claim of unlawful deduction of wages. Tracey had responded to an advertisement on the Job Centre website for a legal case researcher, and was delighted Ian Birch to have found what she thought was an ideal part time job to fit around her law studies.