Law Centre (NI) Development Plan 2005-2008

Foreword

As the chairperson of the Law Centre, I am pleased to be able to introduce the development plan for 2005-2008.
The environment within which advice agencies and the wider voluntary sector operate remains uncertain. The Department for Social Development will shortly publish a ten year advice and information strategy which will have implications for the Law Centre and our member agencies alongside the impact of changes envisaged from the review of public administration. The government has also just issued its response to the task force on resourcing the voluntary and community sector. The response illustrates graphically the challenges ahead for the sector as a whole. It is also clear that reform will continue in all the areas of law that the Law Centre specialises in. To date, the Law Centre has always been able to adapt effectively to change. In addition, the Law Centre has identified new areas of legal need and devised strategies for meeting such needs. During the life of this development plan, our aim is to move towards providing a mental health legal advice service which will also develop the capacity of other advisers to provide advice in this evolving and complex area of law.

I hope you find the development plan useful in seeing where we are going. I welcome any feedback you have on the document.

FIONA GREENE
Chairperson, Law Centre (NI)

Introduction

Law Centre (NI) currently has offices in Belfast and Derry and employs 39 staff, including seventeen who work part-time. The Centre also has six volunteers. Core funding is provided by the Department for Social Development with additional funding for specific projects provided by the four Health and Social Services Boards, Legal Services Commission and Department for Employment and Learning and European monies. Under the Building Sustainable Prosperity programme, the Law Centre also raises its own income. In 2004/05, Law Centre (NI) budget was £1,150.000, of which core funding from the Department for Social Development contributed £452,000. The Law Centre also raises its own income.

The development plan process

This development plan is the outcome of a process of consultation within Law Centre (NI) and externally with our membership. Feedback was sought from members on progress achieved on meeting targets set in the last plan and their views on the priority issues for Law Centre (NI) over the next three years. An external consultant was appointed to conduct a confidential staff satisfaction survey to ascertain staff perceptions of how they are managed, trained and supported within Law Centre (NI). Casework, Training, Publications and Senior Management teams submitted papers.
In January 2005, a development plan project team comprising staff and management committee members met over two days to consider all feedback and agree an initial draft plan. This was externally facilitated by Siobhán Bogues from the Care Sector Consultancy. Further views were sought on the draft plan through meetings with members, staff and management committee representatives. In April 2005, the management committee approved the final plan.

Mission statement and organisational values

The purpose of the Law Centre is:

• to promote social justice and provide specialist legal support to advice giving organisations and disadvantaged individuals.

All work to achieve this purpose is underpinned by the following core values:

• commitment to social justice
  The Law Centre is committed to promoting access to justice, enforcement of legal rights and entitlements and influencing the development of legislation.
   
• professionalism
  The Law Centre is committed to providing a professional and high quality service.
   
• independence
  The choice of activities is determined by a commitment to social justice, and not influenced by vested interests or commercial consideration.
   
• commitment to equality
  The Law Centre is committed to the elimination of discrimination and promotion of equality of opportunity in its staffing policies and delivery of services.
   
• accountability
  The Law Centre is accountable to members, users and funders.
   
• responsiveness
  The Law Centre is committed to both shaping change and responding positively to reform in welfare law and the advice sector in which it works.

Working assumptions

In planning its work over the next three years, the Law Centre has made a number of working assumptions.

• Substantial numbers of advisers and other individuals will continue to require advice and assistance across all of the Law Centre’s areas of work.
• The Law Centre will maintain its main areas of casework and other services. No substantive changes will be made without consultation with member agencies.
• The Law Centre, in consultation with its members, will keep under review the scope for delivery of services in new or emerging areas of social welfare law.
• There will be regular changes in policy and legislation and continuing public policy debate within the Law Centre’s areas of work.
• Uncertainty over the development of devolved institutions following the Belfast Agreement will continue. There will remain a need to continue to develop effective working relationships with locally elected politicians. In addition, the Law Centre will seek to influence legislation and policy in Britain and on issues which have a cross border dimension.
• The funding climate for voluntary sector activity will remain uncertain. Funding for the Law Centre will remain a mix of core funding from the Department for Social Development and funding from a variety of other sources for particular services.
• The Department for Social Development will bring forward a ten year advice and information strategy and the government’s review of public administration will provide opportunities and pose challenges to the Law Centre and its member agencies.
• The importance of working in partnership within the advice sector, with other voluntary and statutory organisations and with government will continue. Furthermore, building on existing strong links with the Law Centre movement in Britain and Ireland and with other like-minded organisations will remain vital.
• Information technology and other technological developments will play an increasingly important role in the delivery of information and advice to advisers and the public at large. In addition, the scope for more effective working through information technology will grow.
• Effective organisational development will require quality standards of service and staff training and development. Developments in legal aid and elsewhere will place a premium on benchmarking quality standards.
• Developments in public funding of legal services will lead to new opportunities for the advice sector to provide advice and assistance through contracts for delivering services.
• Human rights, equality legislation and European law will play an important role in the delivery of public services.
• The reform of the tribunal system will commence and begin to have an impact on the voluntary advice sector.
   

The Law Centre has taken these factors into account in developing a strategic approach to the development and planning of its services over the next three years.

Monitoring and review

In a changing working environment, we recognise the need to regularly review this plan to ensure that it remains relevant.

The broad strategic priorities identified in the plan will be translated into operational objectives annually through the Law Centre’s business planning process.

The management committee will formally review progress on achieving targets in the plan every six months.

The plan is evolutionary and dynamic and will be reviewed and modified as appropriate in response to changing circumstances and feedback from members.

Training & Publications

Strategic context

A key role of Law Centre (NI) is to ensure member agencies staff are well informed and able to deliver accurate advice in key areas of social welfare law. This is currently achieved by the delivery of a comprehensive annual training programme and the publication of materials on issues of relevance to members. Evaluations from learners on Law Centre training courses provide positive feedback on the value of the training received and the quality of both content and delivery of sessions. Similarly, feedback from members indicates that Law Centre (NI) publications services are highly regarded and perceived to be of high quality.

Over the next three years, we will build on this solid foundation to explore the possibility of delivering training that is more responsive to members needs through the establishment of access to open learning provision. In order to take account of the potential benefits of information technology, we will give priority to developing our website and enhancing electronic communication with members. We will also review our publications services to identify how they should adapt to meet the changing expectations of members and a more diverse range of IT capacity within the membership.

Aims

1. To identify the potential demand for open learning courses and assess its value to enhancing the quality of advice giving in Northern Ireland (Year 1).

2. To agree and implement an action plan for developing at least one open learning course (Year 3).

3. To increase the range of courses that are externally accredited identifying priorities within key areas of work (ongoing).

4. To secure accreditation at Level 4 for courses commencing with the Social Security Appeal Tribunal Representation course (Year 1).

5. To deliver the Law Centre’s encyclopaedia of welfare rights in a CD ROM format (Year 1).

6. To review publications services including content of Frontline, mechanisms for determining publications to be produced and changes required to format used for publications taking account of IT developments (Year 2).

7. To enhance the development of the website as a service to members and to improve accessibility for people with visual impairments (ongoing).

8. To explore the possibility of achieving a quality kite mark for the website (Year 2).

Casework

Strategic context

There will be an ongoing need for Law Centre (NI) to continue to provide a casework service in the four core areas of social security, employment, immigration and community care. Changes to the funding of legal services are anticipated through the work of the Legal Services Commission, which will have a significant impact on the organisation. In order to evidence that casework services are of the highest quality and internally consistent in approach, we will apply for Lexcel accreditation. Lexcel is the quality mark for solicitors’ offices and legal departments and is officially recognised by the Law Society in Northern Ireland. In tandem with this development, we will seek to explore the possibility of offering apprenticeships to trainee solicitors, which will extend the personnel available to deal with demand for casework services and offer an opportunity for trainee solicitors to become familiar with Law Centre work.

The context for the provision of immigration advice is currently fluid and there is uncertainty about how future arrangements for dealing with asylum and immigration issues will affect Northern Ireland. The growing number of migrant workers will continue to present particular legal challenges. We will seek to ensure that there is access to specialist legal advice and information in this area and to monitor and address the impact of future policy and funding changes.
The recently produced five year strategy for social security demonstrates that reform of this area will continue. Domestic and European law will have an impact on the delivery of employment services. In addition, government will continue to promote alternative dispute resolution mechanisms to resolve workplace disputes. A further review of community care services for older people has recently been announced. It is likely to affect community care legal advice needs.

Aims

1. To continue to provide a high quality legal casework service in social security, employment, immigration and community care (ongoing).

2. To achieve Lexcel accreditation (Year 1).

3. To monitor changes to the policy and legislation context for providing immigration legal advice and develop proactive strategies in response (ongoing).

4. To secure two apprenticeships per annum for students at the Institute of Professional Legal Studies (Year 2).

5. To address the needs of migrant workers across the full range of casework services (ongoing).

6. To expand the employment casework service (Year 3).

New service development

Strategic context

The development planning process offers an opportunity to identify unmet needs where the organisation has the potential to make a significant and distinct contribution. During last year, we were involved in research on the legal advice and information needs of people with mental ill-health. Unmet Need – a review of mental health advice and information services was published in December 2004. The report highlights the need for good quality mental health legal advice, the lack of legal specialists in this field and the need for capacity building to enable advice-giving organisations to respond to mental health related enquiries. During the course of this plan, we will seek to secure funding to develop mental health legal advice and casework as a fifth core area of work.

In addition, Law Centre (NI) has identified an unmet need for environmental law advice. The lack of an environmental protection agency in Northern Ireland, the growing number of environmental law issues coming before the courts and the greater awareness of environmental issues among the public point to the need for environmental legal advice at community level. Over the course of this plan, Law Centre (NI) will explore the advisability and feasibility of developing pilot services in this area.

Aims

1. To secure funding for the establishment of a mental health legal advice service (Year 1).

2. To establish hospital-based mental health legal advice clinics (Year 2).

3. To identify mental health law training and information needs of members and develop a strategy to build capacity among members in this area (Years 2 and 3).

4. To research the need for the development of specialist legal support on environmental issues (Year 2).

Influencing policy and legislation

Strategic context

Since its inception, Law Centre (NI) has sought to influence social policy and legislative developments in relation to our core work areas. The pace of legislative and policy change and level of consultation engaged in by government departments and public authorities have increased the demand and importance of this work. The current model for influencing policy has been to utilise existing staff expertise. This has resulted in difficulties as workload demands in core activities have taken precedence over the sustained activity required to significantly impact policy and legislative change.

The expertise and experience that are present within the organisation are unique within Northern Ireland. We recognise that our capacity to make a significant and positive contribution to special policy and legal developments in Northern Ireland could be further enhanced. We will seek to address this over the course of this plan by establishing a dedicated policy development unit that will draw on the expertise and knowledge within the organisation to feed into lobbying for legislative and policy change and enhancing existing relationships with policymakers and strategic partners.

Aims

1. To develop and implement a strategy for influencing social policy and legislative developments in each of our core areas of work (Year 1).

2. To establish a Social Policy Unit (Year 2).

3. To improve strategic links and develop partnerships with local politicians, key policy makers and other lobbying organisations (ongoing).

Maximising resources

Strategic context

In common with other voluntary organisations, Law Centre (NI) operates within a climate of budgetary constraints and growing demands for its services. Increasing scrutiny is being given to the efficiency and effectiveness of voluntary agencies and the competence of their governance arrangements. Continued priority will be given to the effective management of all resources within the organisation. In particular, we will focus on ensuring that the financial base of the organisation is strengthened in order to enable us to withstand the challenges posed by continuing funding uncertainty. Ongoing development of human resource management and maximising the use of information technology will also be prioritised in order to ensure effective development of the organisation.

Aims

1. To maintain Investors in People accreditation (Year 2).

2. To develop and implement a Human Resources strategy including arrangements for policy reviews and a proactive approach to addressing staff terms and conditions (Year 2).

3. To develop a long term fundraising strategy with a particular focus on expanding the reserves available to the organisation (Year 1).

4. To continue to improve use of information technology to include increased electronic communication between offices and the development of on line recruitment systems (ongoing).