Law Centres Network secures nearly £500k in National Lottery funding to boost digital capabilities
The Law Centres Network (LCN) has been awarded £494,000 in National Lottery funding over a period of four years to transform its digital capabilities.
The LCN said the monies would allow it to conduct a multi-year programme of digital research and development. “This will build on existing work and devise new practical tools to enhance local Law Centres' services to their clients nationwide.”
Its aims include better managing and meeting public demand for Law Centres’ assistance; improving responsiveness and resilience through enhanced digital infrastructure; and using service data for better advocacy on behalf of Law Centre clients.
Julie Bishop, Director of the Law Centres Network, said: “After talking with both lawyers and clients, we realised that we need to think about how we can use digital tools to make the most of lawyer time, which is our most expensive resource.
“This funding will make a big difference to Law Centres up and down the country - helping us develop simple innovations like SMS reminders to clients about appointments and what documents to bring and focusing on how we communicate with clients. We will open source all we develop and making available our learning to our peers and the wider sector.”
However, news of the funding came on the same day as The Guardian reported that government figures showed that half of all law centres and not-for-profit legal advice services in England and Wales had closed over the past six years.
Figures obtained through parliamentary questions submitted by Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon revealed that in 2013-14 there were 94 local areas with law centres or agencies offering free legal services. But by this year, 2019-20, the number had fallen to 47.
The Government’s responses also showed that between 2010-11 and 2018-19, Ministry of Justice funding for law centres through legal aid contracts dropped from £12.1m to £7.1m.
“The impact was caused by a double blow because removal of legal aid eligibility for many types of cases coincided with a financial crisis among local authorities, which have been forced to withdraw support for local law centres,” The Guardian said.
