Southwark Legal Advice Network
Southwark Legal Advice Network builds on the activities of the previous Southwark Community Legal Services Partnership.
The project will aim to link more effectively with Southwark Council and statutory services and ensure that the wider community sector is able to make effective referrals to legal advice providers.
The partnership which acts as a steering group for the network includes:
- Blackfriars Advice Centre
- Southwark and Cambridge House Law Centres
- Southwark Refugee Project
- Multi Lingual Rights Shop
- Afro Asian Advisory Service
- Pierce Glynn Solicitors
- Anthony Gold Solicitors
Southwark Citizens Advice Bureaux Service is the lead partner and will co-ordinate the project which has 6 main strands:
- Developing a plan for integrated advice services in the borough, and mapping existing provision and gaps and consulting with service users and community agencies.
- Developing an integrated referral system and improving the effectiveness of 'gateway assessments and referrals' within the legal advice providers and from community groups.
- Empowering members of the community to access self help information including a website with downloadable fact sheets and useful links.
- Developing a programme of joint training for frontline staff and volunteers within the partner organisations.
- Identifying social policy issues and using evidence from all partners to raise issues of local and national policy concern affecting disadvantaged groups.
- Developing systems such as mentoring to ensure that a consistent level of quality assured legal advice is provided in the Borough.
The partnership also supports two forums:
Southwark Advice Forum which meets 3 times a year.
The purpose of Southwark Advice Forum is to foster closer working relationships between staff in different agencies so as to improve the quality of services to clients.
Southwark Financial Inclusion Forum
They key aims of Southwark FIF are:
- To ensure that Southwark residents have access to high quality debt advice.
- To develop financial education to help local residents avoid financial crisis, and help to remove barriers to returning to education, training and employment.
- To make effective links with developing areas of policy and local delivery such as the Financial Inclusion Fund, Southwark's Community Strategy and other key priorities for Southwark.
- To contribute to local policy by demonstrating the importance of financial inclusion to meeting national indicators.
For more information about Southwark Legal Advice Network, Southwark Advice Forum or Financial Inclusion Forum please contact:
Sally Causer SLAN Development Manager
Email: silan@southwarkcabservice.org.uk
Mob: 07958749241
or
Andrew Matheson, Community Engagement, Communities Law & Governance, Southwark Council
Email: andrew.matheson@southwark.gov.uk
Tel: 020 7525 7648
For information about where to get legal advice in Southwark please see
www.southwark.gov.uk/YourServices/adviceservices/