Advising in Austerity How advice service partnerships with law schools can support access to justice

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Advising in Austerity : How advice service partnerships with law schools can support access to justice

Advice services are facing a crisis of capacity and Contact details for practitioners engaged in the project demand as local authority and legal aid funding cuts can be found on the back page. affect services at a time of high and rising social need for advice. ‘Austerity’ policies have generated huge Key findings: demand for assistance with problems around welfare rights, housing and precarious work, and advice • Advice services are under pressure in key areas services are often the first and only source of help for of service provision, particularly face to face people who are often struggling with multiple complex advice appointments and help with welfare benefit issues. Yet these services are increasingly fragile and appeals. Specialist casework has been dramatically at-risk, stretching to the limit the capacity of volunteer- reduced by legal aid and local authority cuts. led services as dwindling and precarious funding • Partnership projects benefit all parties: Supporting arrangements threaten key areas service provision. local advice provision, enhancing student employability, exposing future legal professionals Advising in Austerity1 set out to explore the ways to social welfare law, and extending university civic in which partnership working between universities engagement. and advice services can be part of a sustainable • Law student projects can enhance service solution to the challenges facing the sector - whilst capacity, but the scale and scope of projects meeting student and university demand for practical, may be restricted by supervisory and caseworker employability enhancing work experience within law capacities within host organisations. Innovative degrees, and supporting future careers in social welfare project structure and funding solutions - such as law. jointly funded roles - can address this.

The project engaged with practitioners across both • There is a perceived ‘misfit’ between student advice and Higher Education (HE) sectors to investigate volunteers and advice service needs. Successful existing practice regarding partnership working, identify models of practice demonstrate how this can be the barriers to enhancing the role of student pro bono overcome. Sharing knowledge of practice can within the advice sector, and to establish the ways in change perceptions and inspire new projects. which successful projects can overcome these barriers • Changes to solicitor qualification are expected to and provide increased capacity to services in meeting increase demand for practical experience within unmet demand. law degrees. However, if advice services are able to take advantage of these changes there will need to In this report we discuss the value of practical be work done with the SRA to ensure that they are placements in legal education, describe existing able to offer placements that count as ‘qualifying models of practice – with detailed information on real- work experience’ under the new framework. life projects, and provide troubleshooting tips derived from our series of practitioner workshops.

1 Advising in Austerity (AiA) is a ESRC ‘Impact Acceleration Account’ funded knowledge exchange partnership project between The University of Bristol and Citizens Advice Bristol. The project emerged from a 4 year ESRC funded Bristol University research project called ‘New Sites of Legal Consciousness: A case study of UK Advice Agencies’ Practical work experience: its value for legal education

Educational value Partnerships

Practice focused teaching has grown and Reputation significantly within legal education, as evidenced Projects working with local 3rd sector by the increasing numbers of university law organisations were seen as important to clinics and the growing prominence of Clinical universities in terms of social impact and civic Legal Education modules within law degrees. engagement, particularly that of supporting Practitioners emphasised the value of students local disadvantaged communities. Practitioners interacting face to face with clients resolving real from both advice organisations and law world problems. Advice sector models - such schools highlighted concerns around the need as drop-in services - were seen as particularly for ‘genuine partnership’ building and long valuable for skills development compared to term planning if such partnerships are to be standard law clinic models, as students must of value to charities. HEFCE’s newly adopted understand and advise with no prior knowledge Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) will of issues, learning to cope with any issue recognise quality of university partnerships, presented. The introduction of the Teaching and may bring additional funding for knowledge Excellence Framework has brought recognition based interactions that can be shown to be of the value of clinical practice, supporting of economic or social value. There is potential institutional investment in clinics and practical for this funding to be accessed to support work experience. knowledge exchange and partnership building across HE and advice sector organisations.

Employability Research University clinic and advice sector practitioners Advice services capture huge amounts of highlighted that prospective students data of interest to researchers working across increasingly expect practical experience to be social policy and access to justice, and are available within law degrees, viewing practical often underfunded to effectively exploit this skills development as essential to their future resource. Data collection and analysis within employability in a tough graduate jobs market. and across university law clinics is also currently The added value of external placements as underdeveloped. Knowledge exchange and well as clinical practice was highlighted as partnership working can support enhanced data particularly desirable. HE institutions recognise collection within clinics and joint analysis of key the need for practical placements to attract trends and support the development of research students and boost Student Satisfaction Survey with policy impact. and employability rankings. Models of practice:

Practitioners engaged in the Advising in Austerity project were happy to share information and tips on setting up successful student law projects in advice services. These are some of the excellent models of practice that we found, contact details for project leads are included at the end of the report.

need help to make sure their condition is properly Project model: Triage and Information only: represented on the form. Law students assisting clients Digital Assistant and Initial Assessment roles assist clients with these forms supports better decision making by to self-help online, and assessing client need as a first assessors leading to less failed applications, with less point of contact. In some advice offices these roles attract clients facing financial detriment, stress and exacerbated a high percentage of student volunteers from across many health conditions. subject areas, and are a quick route into working face to face with clients, and function as an effective introduction Project profile: Specialist form filling: to the service, allowing students to develop knowledge Liverpool University/Liverpool Citizens Advice and prove their commitment before moving on to more complex training and roles. Other services operate a Citizens Advice Liverpool host 30-40 2nd and 3rd year telephone ‘gateway’ as the first point of contact to the LLB students, split into 2 cohorts each year. Participants service, leading to either an appointment, provision of carry out 4 half-day training sessions, including welfare basic information, or signposting. benefits eligibility, and observing face to face work with clients. Once trained they carry out interviews with clients covering their condition and relate this to the Project profile: Telephone Gateway Assessors: form questions and descriptors for eligibility. Welfare Derbyshire District CA/Nottingham University benefits caseworkers provide supervision and checking law school of forms. Students carry out 10x half-day sessions over 1 Derbyshire District Citizens Advice host 2 cohorts of 20 semester. Skills developed include interviewing and client 3rd year LLB students each year in telephone gateway care, identification of legally relevant information, and assessor roles. The students undergo 2x3hr training knowledge of welfare benefits legal eligibility frameworks, sessions provided by DDCA, and fulfil an edited version applications and appeals procedures. Participants are of the learning journal over the course of the placement. well placed to move on to roles supporting benefits This is a fastrack version of the training based on the caseworkers with tribunal appeals work, and there are high aptitude of the student volunteers. Participants carry plans for the extension of the project to provide this. out 32 hrs of voluntary work over 8 weeks, as part of Liverpool University have agreed to fund a number of the optional module ‘Research placement with Citizens placements where they are undertaken as part of an Advice’, leading to a research essay on areas of law ‘Access to Justice’ module and there are plane to create related to the project. DDCA estimate students on the a jointly funded role to coordinate placements increasing project add 1000 volunteering hours over the course of the scope and scale of the project. the year. Project model: Generalist Adviser Roles Project profile: Birmingham City University/ Project model: Specialist form filling: Citizens Advice: Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, Restrictions around access to sickness and disability Bromsgrove & Redditch, Solihull Borough benefits have led to large numbers of people in need of Employment Support Allowance (ESA) or Personal Independence Payment (PIP) being wrongly denied 20-25 3rd year LLB students take part each year as eligibility. The complexity of the application forms for part of an optional module. Participants commit to these benefits is part of the problem, and people often training 2 days per week for 12 weeks over the summer, then 1 day per week for the rest of the academic year, including holidays. Assessment is 70% on placement a week in term time, a team of 40 LLM and 2nd and by CA supervisory staff, based on key skills. Training 3rd year LLB students deliver immediate face-to-face and assessments are coordinated across participating generalist social welfare law advice to drop-in clients from bureaux by Sandwell CA Training officer. Students dedicated shopfront premises. The student advisers are who wish to participate must take the ‘Profession trained and supervised by specialist university-employed my or al Skills and Practice’ module during their 2nd practising social welfare lawyers. The supervising lawyers year. This is ‘accredited prior learning’ as agreed with combine their clinical work with traditional classroom participating CA, as a precursor to the fast-track training teaching. The students work in pairs. Each pair of course. Participants then carry out 3 supervised advice students (2 or 3 pairs staff each drop-in session) is appointments, then into unsupervised interviews, with closely supervised by one lawyer throughout the advice support available from Citizens Advice staff. Skills process: identifying the client’s problem(s); researching include: Client interviewing, making sense of a client’s the advice (using AdviceGuide, AdviserNet, Advice Now issue, identifying legally relevant information, researching and standard practitioner textbooks from CPAG and LAC); advice, translating information into legal frameworks, delivering the advice; writing up the advice record. Where communicating legal information clearly to clients, appropriate clients are referred from the drop-in service experience of client care. Participating CA emphasise for specialist one-off advice appointments in the areas of the value of the project as they often struggle to recruit family and housing law. 2 students shadow a specialist generalist advisers. There is no additional funding for the pro bono solicitor during a 1 hour advice appointment, project but it is seen as cost neutral due to the fit with taking notes and writing up an attendance note which is the existing advice and funding models of host bureaux. checked and signed off by the solicitor. 2 to 3 clients are The work of the training officer across the different sites is seen per specialist session, and follow up appointments key to the project. As a pilot project in 2016/17, 2nd year can be made although there is no casework. Specialist LL.B. students also went out on placement to Citizens areas of law are dependent on availability of pro Advice, and were trained up as generalist advisers. Unlike bono solicitors. The project used to host employment the 3rd year placement students, these placements were specialist appointments but participating law firms lost unassessed. The idea was that students would be given specialisation in these areas post-LASPO. the option of staying on with Citizens Advice for academic credit in their third year, with the possibility of being Project model: Joint Casework Project profile: trained up as specialist advisers. University of Ulster/Mid-Ulster CA

Project model: Specialist advice appointments Mid-Ulster CA have been pioneering a ‘joint casework’ model with students within Ulster University. Where clients One-off specialist advice appointments are delivered by a present at CA with cases which require legal research team of one or two law students with one specialist and there is a potential need for casework and tribunal solicitor supervising and helping to formulate advice. representation, Ulster university law clinic students There is no casework, although clients may book carry out the background legal research which is fed additional appointments if needed, or be referred to back to mid Ulster CA. The project mostly focuses on another service or solicitor as appropriate. Areas of law employment and welfare benefits. Capacity for taking covered depend upon available expertise of supervisory cases forwards are discussed early on, with responsibility staff, who may be solicitors working pro bono, or qualified decided on a case by case basis. The model provides staff members from the participating law school. additional legal research capacity for CA, provides Ulster students with opportunities to research and work real life cases, and opens discussions about capacity to help Project profile: Drop-in generalist social welfare clients at an early stage. law advice combined with specialist advice appointments. Project profile: London South Bank University (LSBU) Legal Advice Clinic/Philcox Grey/ Wainwright Cummins/Beck Fitzgerald Solicitors

LSBU is one of the few University Law Clinics to host an open door drop-in generalist advice service. 3 days Casework and Representation Projects

Project case study: North Bristol Advice Centre (NBAC)/University of West of England/University of Bristol The project is hosted within NBAC and provides casework support and representation for ESA and PIP appeals to the first tier social security tribunal.

9-15 3rd year LLB currently take part, (some as part of student capacity during exam periods and holidays. ‘Law in Action’ module) for a minimum of 30 weeks, 1 Strategies include: heavily structured commitment half-day session per week (full day if taking module). The agreed at the beginning of placements, with agreements project model was developed in tandem with Bristol Law around holiday plans built in early. Staggering cohorts Centre, which currently run a similar project. of students, with some beginning early-mid-summer. Winding down caseload towards exam period, and then Training: increasing once returnees are back in role. Having a Training is carried out by NBAC Advice Service Manager. permanent casework resource is also crucial to pick up 3 half-day sessions for each cohort of students: cases where necessary. Introduction to Welfare benefits, ESA and PIP Appeals, Internal Procedures and case management. Students shadow on cases during the training period, observing Project costings: interviews and hearings. They then begin their own Advice service manager: casework, closely supervised by NBAC caseworkers 2 hrs per week: (in-kind cost) at all stages. They are responsible for cases start to Caseworker: 3 days per week £17430 finish. New cohorts of students are staggered as the Training budget: £2200 initial stages are supervision intensive. All case files are Volunteer expenses: £2250 checked off by either the paid caseworker or Advice Travel Expenses: £480 Service Manager prior to the hearing. Printing and Postage: £400 Overheads: £2000 Tasks and Skills: Total: £24,760 Face to face interviews, taking client statement, legal research, identifying and collecting evidence, writing Impact and Value: tribunal submission, preparing client for hearing, 100 clients seen over 7mths (58 PIP, 42 ESA) representing at tribunal*, client interviewing, client Projected to help 170 clients over 12 months care, managing a case file, balancing arguments and Success rate(where trib. was attended): 87% PIP, evidence, legal research and writing, representation 92% ESA (national average 62%) Value to clients experience. over: Outcomes on 53 cases so far:

Key challenge: Casework Backdated payments: £80,000 and ‘seasonality’ Income over 1 year: £160,537 Because this type of project generates casework Total value to clients: £240,537 steps have been taken to mitigate the risk of declining Troubleshooting:

Problem: Funding and Resource constraints

Advice service managers highlighted that extensive funding cuts had led to the loss of caseworkers, and that ratios of paid staff to volunteers were already very high. They would struggle to provide adequate supervision to new cohorts of volunteers such as law students, in particular for projects involving ongoing casework. In some services lack of key roles such as training officers and volunteer coordinators restrict organisational capacity to support volunteers.

Solutions: 1. Projects are designed to be ‘cost-neutral’: Where projects place student volunteers within standard volunteer roles within the organisation minimal extra supervision is required. See: Derbyshire District CA/University of Nottingham 1. Schools of Law provide supervision, training or funding for placements: Where placements are built into credit-bearing modules there is scope for teaching resources and funding to be allocated to the project. In some projects law school staff with relevant specialisation are involved in direct supervision, typically for one-off specialist advice clinics. Some law schools developed, provided or hosted specialised training courses to fast track students into volunteer roles. In other cases law schools directly funded advice services per head to support the training and supervision costs of placements. Joint funding of a training and coordinator role to support student projects is also a possibility, bringing scalability and relieving pressure on host organisations. See: University of Liverpool/Liverpool Citizens Advice. 1. Training, supervision or coordination is provided by a third party organisation: A number of third sector organisations are involved in brokering, coordinating or supporting student law projects. LawWorks supports a network of 230 law clinics both within university law schools and third sector organisations. They provide advice and supporting materials to clinic coordinators and run accredited training top upskill volunteers in social welfare legal practice. Pro Bono Community provide training and coordinate advice sector placements for law students and trainee solicitors. Problem: Misfit of roles

Practitioners from both law schools and advice services highlighted a perceived misfit between student course timescales and availability, and the length of adviser training courses and volunteering commitments. Concerns around competing pressures such as exam and holiday periods - and a sense that students were a short-lived and transient resource - were commonly cited as prohibitive to engagement of student volunteers. In particular training for generalist adviser roles was seen as incompatible with projects often seeking to place students in their final year. Projects involving casework in particular were viewed as risky, due to the possibility of services being left with an unsustainable caseload legacy come holiday time. Law clinic staff who had investigated placements with organisations such as Citizens Advice reported often finding the available volunteering options either unworkable or unsatisfying from an educational point of view (such as basic information or signposting roles).

Solutions: 1. Projects engaging students as generalist advisers carried out specially designed fast-track training courses during the summer months, with students volunteering 1 day a week as generalist advisers for their entire 3rd year. Legal practice skills modules built into the 1st or 2nd year of courses can function provided accredited prior learning skilling up students to enable them to cope with a fastrack route into the roles. See: Birmingham City University/local Citizens Advice 1. Practitioners emphasised stringent recruitment processes as key to ensuring the commitment of student participants. Issues around holiday periods are dealt with early on, with time commitments over the year established at the point of recruitment. Projects involving casework in particular require strict timetabling and practitioners emphasised a zero tolerance approach to non-attendance. Casework projects tended to recruit smaller cohorts twice or three times over the year, designed to overlap and ensure year round participation. The commitment and hard work of students taking part in these programs was also emphasised, with exceptionally low drop-out rates. Building placements into course modules also minimises time conflicts for students allowing maximum commitment. See: North Bristol Advice Centre/University of Bristol/University of the West of England

Problem: Sustainability Projects have been terminated due to resource and capacity issues in host organisations, where funding cuts had led to the loss of roles key to supporting projects. Short-term and precarious funding arrangements present a major challenge for advice service managers, and practitioners from both advice services and universities felt that this precarity was not well understood at the higher level within law schools.

Solutions: The need to build genuine long term partnerships based on a clear analysis of the costs involved and the ongoing capacity of host organisations is essential to creating sustainable partnerships. Commitment to partnerships at a high level, as well as formalisation and contingency planning is needed. Fully costed project models can help practitioners to make the argument to potential funders within universities, and where funding arrangements are agreed multiple year contracts can provide stability. Developing long- term, adequately resourced partnerships is also key to ensuring quality for student participants and clients. Key policy issue: Changes to Solicitor Qualification

Key policy issue: Changes to Solicitor Qualification: The Solicitors Regulation Authority are radically overhauling the pathway to qualification for trainee solicitors, scrapping existing qualification requirements in favour of the two stage Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE). The new framework increases the importance of practical skills and experience within legal education, as entrants to the 2nd stage exam would be required to have gathered 2 years ‘qualifying work experience’ across up to 4 different organisations. However for placements to count towards qualifying work experience they would need to be signed off by a qualified solicitor. Given many advice services do not have qualified solicitors on staff, partnerships with law schools or pro bono solicitors may be key to hosting placements. SQE has also raised concerns about the profile of social welfare law within law degrees, as law schools may strip out social welfare law in favour of key SQE content. Clinical work and placements in advice services may be the only point at which tomorrow’s legal professionals encounter access to justice and social welfare legal issues.

Recommendations

Successful models of practice should be promoted local or regional workshops evaluating advice needs across advice sector networks to inspire new projects and scope for partnership working could support joined and share knowledge with practitioners keen to up working. develop student placements. Citizens Advice should consider developing a national Advice organisations should consider how they can student volunteer network to enhance portability of adapt to the new model of solicitor qualification. skills, link returning students to their local CA keeping Placements that count as ‘qualifying work experience’ talented volunteers within the network. This would also will need to be signed off by a qualified solicitor, which be an ideal way to promote student placement projects could be provided through partnerships with law clinics and share practice. or pro bono solicitors. Skills developed within advice services could be mapped against the ‘Statement of Universities should consider the multiple benefits of solicitor competencies’ to demonstrate relevance clinical legal education both in-house and through for SQE. external placements: employability, educational value, knowledge and local civic engagement. Schools of law Development of accredited ‘legal practice skills’ training and advice sector organisations would benefit from within advice services would boost recognition of skills formalised long-term partnerships, with recognition of developed, and would support arguments for university funding and resource issues and joint investment where funding of placements. needed. Provision of enhanced funding for teaching that brings additional employability benefits could There is a need for forums that bring together law support this. school and advice service practitioners. A series of Authors: With thanks to: Ben Crawford, Knowledge Exchange Fellow, Andy Brown, School of Law, University of Bristol CEO, CA Manchester [email protected] Dianne Lyons, Director, CA Leeds Morag McDermont, Professor of Socio-Legal Janice Nichols, Studies, School of Law, University of Bristol Chief Executive, CA Birmingham [email protected] Heather Brent, CEO, CA Liverpool Sue Evans, Director, Citizens Advice Bristol, Shona Alexander, [email protected] Director, CA Newcastle Andy Buck, Director, CA Sheffield CA Lesley Singleton Project contacts: Volunteer Coordinator Derbyshire District CA Tal Michael, Project: Telephone Gateway Assessors: CEO Gwynedd CA Derbyshire District CA Melanie Mallinson, Senior Andy King, Manager DDCAB, melanie. Welfare Benefits Legal Advisor, ABLC [email protected] Chilli Reid, CEO, Advice UK Specialist form filling: Carol Boothby, Liverpool University/Liverpool Citizens Advice Director Student Law Office, Northumbria University Dr James Organ, Lecturer in Law, University of Joanne Clough, Liverpool, [email protected] Lecturer in Law, Ulster University, Solicitor Ulster Legal Advice Clinic Birmingham City University: Kate Bandy, Legal Advice and Representation Unit Pro bono manager, Open University Dr Chris King, Senior Lecturer BCU Law School, Hugh McFaul, [email protected] Lecturer in Law (Pro Bono Initiative), Open University Drop-in generalist social welfare law advice Dr Lucy Finchett-Maddock, combined with specialist advice appointments: Lecturer in Law, Sussex University London South Bank University, Legal Advice Clinic Dr Bonnie Holligan, Alan Russell, Senior Lecturer/Solicitor, School of Lecturer in Law, Sussex University Law and Social Sciences, London South Bank Sam Shipstone, University, [email protected] Project Administrator, Yorkshire Tribunal Advocacy Project Joint casework model: Sabeeha Kahn, Mid-Ulster Citizens Advice/University of Ulster, Joe Pro bono coordinator, University of Law Leeds McGlade, Adviser, Mid-Ulster CA joe. Carolina Albuerne, [email protected] Good practice and partnerships manager, Refugee Action Casework and Representation: Bill Skirrow, North Bristol Advice Centre/University of Bristol, Executive Director, Pro Bono Community University of the West of England. Drew Huskisson, Clare Cowell, NBAC Advice Team Manager, Student Law Office, Northumbria University [email protected] Lindsey Poole, Director, Advice Services Alliance