[WiLT] Lasa announces closure of Appeals Team after 24 years of invaluable service

[WiL Admin]

Lasa announces closure of Appeals Team after 24 years of invaluable
service

The Lasa Appeals Team represents benefit claimants who have been
wrongly refused their entitlement at Social Security Tribunals. The
team will now close in October 2008 after 24 years of invaluable
service.

Commenting on the announcement, the Chief Executive of Lasa, Andy
Gregg said -

'It really saddens me that after 24 years of providing an invaluable
welfare benefits appeals and representation service to many of the
most vulnerable people in London, we have finally had to call it a
day.

The Legal Services Commission's fixed fee regime is really starting to
bite and unfortunately Lasa's Appeals Team is the next in what we
anticipate to be a long line of similar closures throughout the
sector.

The system of fixed fees is based on the assumption that advice
providers can still deal with complex lengthy cases by off-setting
them with simpler shorter cases. Unfortunately due to our long history
as a specialist provider we simply did not get enough shorter cases to
make the system work for us.

It is deplorable that such highly valued and trusted services are
being forced to close; they are needed now more than ever, as the
impact of the credit crunch starts to bite, and the Government's new
Welfare Reform agenda is implemented. According to the Government's
own research it is estimated that an extra 26,500 appeals will be
lodged per year because of these reform changes.

Where will these people go to get the in-depth advice they need?
Policy makers must act quickly and recognize the impact the LSC
intervention is having on the sector and clients. If they wait too
long there may be insufficient providers left to meet the ever
increasing need.'

Notes:
* Lasa Appeals Team has provided casework and representation at Social
Security Appeals Tribunals for residents of the 33 London boroughs
since 1984
* The Law Centres Federation claim that almost 20% of community law
centres are facing closure, with another 49% in serious difficulty
* Fixed fees were introduced from October 2007 by the LSC for 'Legal
Help' in the 5 categories of social welfare law which are: community
care, debt, employment, housing and welfare benefits
* The fixed fee for a welfare benefits case is £167, equivalent to
approximately 3 hours of casework. An average Lasa appeals case takes
7½ hours
* A recent survey undertaken by the Legal Action Group (LAG) and the
Access to Justice Alliance (AJA) found that 55% of respondents tried 3
or more organisations to get advice

For further information please contact:
Wai-Fong Pang Policy & Voice Development Officer
T: 020 7426 4484
E: wpang at lasa.org.uk

Press Release: 8th September 2008
http://www.lasa.org.uk/cgi-bin/publisher/display.cgi?1340-8108-20102+news