News

Law Centre (NI) has published a Redundancy Toolkit which will ensure voluntary sector advisers are equipped to provide effective and appropriate help to people facing redundancy in Northern Ireland.

Read more: Redundancy Toolkit launched

Help is at hand for students and their advisers, with Students and Benefits 2010-2011.

Read more: Help for cash-strapped students

The revamped Encyclopedia of Rights section of our website is now almost complete.  Decision Making and Appeals notes will be added this week. 

Follow this link for a peek: Encyclopedia of Social Welfare Rights 2010

Law Centre (NI) members will receive a CD version in early September.  Legislation and rates may vary throughout the year.  Please make sure you are always working with the most up to date version.  Visit our website throughout the year for updates.

 

The government has announced its intention to abolish the 'certificate of approval' scheme. The scheme is expected to end in late 2010 or early 2011.

At present, any migrant who is already in the UK and is subject to immigration control must apply for a certificate of approval before s/he can get married or register a civil partnership in this country (unless getting married within the Anglican Church).

The government is now seeking to remedy the declaration by the UK courts that the scheme is incompatible with Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Information on current legislation can be found on a new government website, www.legislation.gov.uk. There is a specific section for Northern Ireland Acts, Statutory Rules, Orders in Council etc. which can be accessed from the homepage. 

The new site brings together the legislative content currently held on the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) website and revised legislation from the Statute Law Database (SLD) to provide a single legislation service that replaces the current services. The OPSI and SLD websites are in the process of being decommissioned with users re-directed to this new service.

The UK Supreme Court has ruled that gay asylum seekers who would be at risk of persecution if returned should not be deported. The Court allowed the appeals from two men whose claims had been refused by Home Office officials who said that the men could hide their sexuality by behaving discreetly. The Lords held that gay applicants should not be forced to suppress their sexuality. The Law Centre strongly supports this ruling.

See here for more details: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jul/07/gay-asylum-seekers-rights-deportation

Following the budget and other announcements, a number of changes to social security are in the pipeline.

 

Read more: Benefits and the budget

Frontline 76 is now available online. This issue focuses on employment issues including: workplace disputes, employment rights and details of an important victory in an equal pay case.

 

Read more: Frontline 76 now online

Law Centre (NI), the Appeals Service and University of Ulster School of Law held a conference on tribunal reform on 23 June at the Bar Library, Belfast.

Read more: Advancing tribunal reform

Law Centre (NI) has launched Redressing Users' Disadvantage: Proposals for Tribunal Reform in Northern Ireland.

The report is to be followed by a conference in Belfast tomorrow, Wednesday 23 June, on Tribunal Reform – The Way Forward. Among the speakers will be the Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan, the Minister for Justice David Ford, and the report's authors Gráinne McKeever (University of Ulster School of Law) and Brian Thompson (University of Liverpool School of Law).

The report covers users' views of tribunals and provides an agenda and proposed roadmap for carrying forward tribunal reform in Northern Ireland.

Copies can be ordered from our Publications Unit for £9.95 and the Executive Summary is now available to download on our tribunal reform page.

'More people go to tribunals than to courts to resolve legal problems. Tribunals decide important issues including whether you can be paid a social security benefit, be released from a mental health institution, be granted asylum or have your job back, yet it remains an unheralded part of the justice system. This research, the first of its kind in Northern Ireland, aims to put the work of tribunals on the map', said Les Allamby, Director of Law Centre (NI).

Read more: Redressing Users Disadvantage: a report on tribunal reform

Refugee Action Group (RAG) launched its report, Distant voices, shaken lives, on Friday 11 June at Long Gallery, Stormont. The event was coordinated by NICRAS and marked the beginning of Refugee Week 2010.

The RAG report highlights the ‘human face’ of immigration detention in Northern Ireland and was well received by attendees and media alike.

An Irish Times report of the event can be found here:

www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0611/breaking1.html

Grosvenor House, Glengall Street, Belfast

Thursday 24 June 2010, 10am - 4pm

A landmark event featuring evidence from international human rights experts as well as those from the fields of urban geography, health, architecture, housing, and equality.

Since January 2007 residents from the Seven Towers, a high rise housing development in the New Lodge area of North Belfast, have been gathering evidence on their housing conditions and setting human rights indicators and benchmarks to establish whether their right to adequate housing is being realized. They have engaged with the Department for Social Development and Northern Ireland Housing Executive through a participatory Monitoring Group.

At the inquiry, the residents will launch their new indicators and set our their plans for monitoring these issues over the coming year. The inquiry will also hear testimony from other areas facing similar housing issues which point to systemic problems with housing provision across Northern Ireland and beyond.

Evidence is now showing that the housing needs across the most disadvantaged communities is growing and will be further impacted by the current global recession. The Right to Housing: A People’s Inquiry will build on previous work demonstrating how a human rights based approach can be of use to groups experiencing social and economic disadvantage in a manner which ensures the most effective and efficient use of public resources.

Registration forms are available on www.pprproject.org

Refugee Week is being held from 11 to 20 June 2010 and the theme this year is Destitution: Still Human, Still Here

There will be a varied programme of events including an Information Day, International music night, a seminar, discussion groups and even a football tournament!

 

Read more: Refugee Week

The Law Centre is Northern Ireland’s leading legal charity. We are offering an opportunity to contribute to the development of social welfare law in Northern Ireland and to gain valuable practice experience.

We provide free advice and casework services to individuals in need in four core areas of law - social security, employment, immigration and community care and are now seeking to recruit a volunteer for its Belfast office for the summer of 2010 with the following specification:

We require a graduate/graduand in law, social policy or other relevant discipline. Previous experience is not essential. However any or all of the following will be an advantage:

• experience of advice-giving in any of the Law Centre’s core areas of work
• experience of relevant legal or social policy research
• prior recent experience of work with an advice-giving agency

We require a commitment of at least 2 days per week for a minimum of 10 weeks or a pro rata equivalent. In return, we offer a challenging work programme consisting of legal research and assistance under supervision and travel and lunch expenses. You will have opportunity to observe a range of casework in an informal and friendly working environment.

Prospective areas of work will be social security, employment, immigration, mental health and community care. Interviews will be held on Thursday 24 June 2010 and the closing date for applications is Thursday 17 June 2010 at 5.00 pm.

Download the application form below and return to Law Centre (NI), 124 Donegall Street, Belfast, BT1 2GY. Telephone 028 9024 4401 for more information.

Download Casework Volunteer application form (PDF)

Lord Mayor Paul Fleming visted our Derry office on Tuesday 18th May 2010 to present certificates to thirteen successful participants who completed the Welfare Rights Adviser Programme accredited by OCN Northern Ireland.

The new Law Centre Training Programme is now available. Law Centre (NI) offers training for advisers, legal practitioners and others working in the field of social welfare rights. The training covers community care, employment, immigration, mental health and social security law, as well as skills required for advice work.

A copy of the Training Programme can be ordered by using the Law Centre Order Form or it can be downloaded as a PDF below.

Law Centre (NI) Training Programme 2010-2011

The Draft Public Assemblies, Parades and Protests Bill, published by the First and Deputy First Ministers on April 20^th to deal with contentious parades, will encompass all public meetings, demonstrations and protests involving trade unions, political activists, community organisations and campaign groups.

The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and a number of trade unions have expressed concern at the scope of the proposed law. 

To respond to the consultation, email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or post to the Secretariat Working Group on Parades OFMDFM Room GD 51 Stormont Castle Belfast BT4 3SR.

The consultation closes at 1 pm on 14 July 2010.

Read more: Public Assemblies Bill consultation

Law Centre (NI) director Les Allamby gave a talk on the Child Poverty Act at a seminar on Working Together to Reduce Child Poverty, held at Queen's University on 19 May. The event was organized by Health and Social Care Board, Children in NI and Queen's. Read it here: Child Poverty Act - an analysis

Law Centre (NI) has three new vacancies:

Legal Adviser (Community Care) [Maternity cover]

35 hours per week, based in Derry

Policy Officer [Maternity cover]

35 hours per week, based in Belfast

Apprentice solicitor

Based in Belfast or Derry

To find out more details, and download application forms, go to the Work With Us page.

Changes to immigration tribunals

From 15 February 2010, the functions of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal have transferred to a new two-tier system.   Lois Hamilton, immigration adviser at Law Centre (NI), explains the workings of the new Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber, and how these changes will affect clients and their advisers. Read about it in changes to immigration tribunals briefing.