Urgent Appeal for Advicenow

Posted on04 July 2023

Law for Life are the leading provider of public legal information and education in the UK that aims to tackle social injustice through the legal empowerment of individuals and communities.

Their legal help website, Advicenow, provides vital support to people across England and Wales. We receive 1,250,000 visits and more than 1.9 million page views. Demand has increased by 20% in the last year alone. 34% of Advicenow users identify as disabled, 51% are from low-income households. 28% are helping someone else - these include volunteers, advisers or friends and family.

For over a decade, Law for Life has received funding, either directly or indirectly, from the Ministry of Justice to maintain Advicenow. A recent decision has turned down our request for core funding completely with only a month to find other solutions.

Why it matters

Often people come to Advicenow when they have nowhere else to turn – when they cannot access free advice or representation and cannot afford a solicitor. Our service users comes to us for help with benefits problems, eviction and other housing difficulties, complex family law problems, and help to deal with things like broken contracts and personal injury.

Our legal guides and tools help with disability benefit appeals providing step-by-step help and our personalised digital legal support tools write the letter to the DWP for you, setting out why the decision they made is wrong. Research soon to be published shows that claimants who use our tool to challenge their PIP decision or DLA decision are more than twice as likely to get the decision changed at this stage than those who don't, saving them from waiting another 6 months for the appeal hearing. ‘God-send’, ‘Can’t thank you enough’ and ‘Without your help, I would never have managed' frequently appear in the reviews our users leave .

Our resources are also very important in the ‘access to justice eco-system’ as volunteers, advisers, MPs caseworkers, pro bono lawyers, social workers, community workers and more use them to support their work with clients. Our resources are also linked to from sites as diverse as GOV.UK, Gingerbread, Scope, CAFCASS, Benefits and Work, MoneySavingExpert, and Mumsnet.

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Burges Salmon has been an enthusiastic supporter of BLS for many years. BLS provides a valuable role in uniting and promoting the whole of the legal sector across Bristol to benefit both its members and the city. It facilitates collaboration across the sector to ensure that we can all make a difference. Whether that is driving important initiatives in, for example, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and the use of new technologies, liaising with stakeholders and charities in our wider community or providing training to generations of lawyers, the service and support provided by BLS is invaluable. More recently BLS has taken a lead on promoting Bristol’s legal brand, encouraging legal and business services talent to come to the city, which in turn attracts clients and inward investment to our thriving and vibrant commercial community. BLS breaks down barriers and brings those in the profession together for the greater good. We are proud of our long-standing association with BLS.
Roger Bull - Managing Partner, Burges Salmon
Three things to say about my experience of working with Bristol Law Society. Their central team, council members and general hangers-on are just about the nicest, most generous group of people working in the legal sector today. The numerous events, awards, socials and conferences I’ve had the pleasure to attend over the years have been, without exception, top quality and supremely organised. And, thirdly, they consistently exceed and challenge the boundaries of what lawyers might assume a regional Law Society will restrict activities to – from a hugely successful charitable school meals drive to corporate social responsibility and diversity campaigns to being joint architects and coordinators of the region’s unique Bristol+BathLegalTech group, which it has been my privilege to co-chair for the last five years.
Chris Bull - Principal, Edge International
As one of the leading Insurance brokers for law firms in the UK and with a large presence in Bristol it seemed only natural for us to support the Bristol Law Society. Bristol Law Society is one of the oldest and most vibrant of the Law Societies in England and Wales. We are pleased to be working with them on important matters relating to law firms’ liability insurances and Risk Management. From Sole Practitioner to Top 20 law firms we are sure our two organisations can provide excellent support and assistance for the challenges faced by the legal profession.
Matthew Baker - Financial Lines Group, Howden Insurance Brokers Ltd
Joining BLS in 2013 and becoming President in 2018/19 has created many longstanding friendships and business relationships, whilst also unlocking doors to other opportunities in the City. BLS enabled a perfect balance of professional development and also opportunities to give back to the legal and wider community. I am pleased that my Firm has supported BLS in many capacities since 2013 and continues to do so.
Nicholas Lee- Managing Director of Paragon Costs Solutions and Past President of BLS