Fair Access to Legal Services - Children and Young People

Dear all,
Today sees the launch of both the JustRights campaign for fair access to legal services for children and young people and a new report on young people’s access to advice. Further details are contained in the press release below. I look forward to seeing many of you at the launch event this afternoon.
Best wishes,
James Kerrick

PRESS RELEASE: For immediate release, Monday 26 October 2009


Children and young people denied their rights as over one million fail to get legal advice every year

Over one million children and young people annually are not getting the legal advice they need, warns a campaign launched today by four leading advice charities.

As a result, children and young people are being denied their rights to liberty, security, shelter and education, warns the JustRights campaign, which brings together Children’s Rights Alliance for England, Howard League for Penal Reform, Law Centres Federation and Youth Access.

The campaign estimates that the cost to the taxpayer of failing to get legal advice to children and young people is at least £1 billion annually, as under-25 year-olds end up homeless, destitute, wrongly imprisoned, or worse.

JustRights is campaigning for fair access to legal services for children and young people. It is calling on the government to:
Recognise the unique legal advice crisis facing children and young people in the UK.
Develop a cross-departmental strategy to ensure ready access to high quality independent legal advice and representation for all children and young people whenever they need it.
Invest in age-appropriate legal advice services.

To mark the launch of the campaign, Youth Access is issuing a report, which sets out comprehensive evidence of the scandalous failure to meet the advice needs of young people on social welfare issues. The report, Young People’s Access to Advice – The Evidence, finds that:
Contrary to popular belief, most young people neither know their rights nor understand ‘the system’.
Each year, at least one million young people with complex social welfare problems such as debt, homelessness, education and employment get no advice at all.
Hundreds of thousands of young people try, but fail to obtain advice because there is no service able to help them.
Only one in seven of those young people who manage to get advice do so from a recognised legal advice professional.

Katy Swaine, Legal Director of the Children’s Rights Alliance for England, said:
“This is a prime example of age discrimination in the UK. We know that it is children and young people in the most vulnerable situations, including those in custody and those living in the care system, for whom it is often hardest to access independent expert advice.”

Julie Bishop, Director of the Law Centres Federation, said:
“Every day, Law Centres see young people whose lives are hanging in the balance. Often, they are facing homelessness, or are being denied an education. The legal advice we give them has a huge impact, helping them to get their lives back on track. All young people should get that chance.”

Barbara Rayment, Director of Youth Access, said:
“Children and young people are in a uniquely dangerous situation – they are the least likely age group to get good legal advice, and yet they often need it the most. Today, children and young people in the UK are living on the streets and experiencing serious financial problems because there is no one to defend their rights.”

ENDS

For more information and to interview young people facing these problems, please contact:
Clare Rudebeck, Communications Officer, Law Centres Federation
Mobile: 07775 931 265
Email: clare@lawcentres.org.uk

Notes to editors:

About the key statistics:
The estimate of over one million children and young people annually not getting the legal advice they need is based on analysis of data from the 2006-08 Civil and Social Justice Survey (CSJS), has been checked by the Legal Services Research Centre and only relates to 16-24 year-olds’ civil justice problems, so under-estimates the true scale of the legal advice crisis facing children and young people. The estimate that this costs the taxpayer £1 billion is based on Ministry of Justice data on the cost of civil justice problems. Contact james@youthaccess.org.uk for further details.

About JustRights
JustRights, the campaign for fair access to legal services for children and young people, will be launched at an event on 26 October being hosted in central London by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Speakers will include Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty. Guests will include young people whose lives have been transformed by the receipt of good legal advice. Find out more at www.justrights.org.uk

About the Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE)
CRAE is a coalition of over 270 voluntary and statutory organisations committed to the full implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. CRAE protects the human rights of children by lobbying those holding power, by bringing or supporting test cases, by using national, regional and international human rights mechanisms, by supporting children’s self advocacy and by giving advice to children. Find out more at: www.crae.org.uk

About The Howard League for Penal Reform
The Howard League for Penal Reform provides a unique legal service for children and young people in custody. We recognise children and young adults are a distinct group who are less likely to seek advice and often unaware that the law can work for them. Our casework evidences the need to have specialist advisors who have a holistic approach to the legal needs of children and young people. For further information go to: www.howardleague.org

About Law Centres Federation
The Law Centres Federation is the membership organisation for a national network of Law Centres which provide free civil legal advice and representation to the most disadvantaged members of British society. Law Centres have pioneered young people’s civil legal advice services, supporting approximately 7,000 young people over the last three years in London alone. For further information, go to: www.lawcentres.org.uk

About Youth Access
Youth Access is the national membership association for a network of over 200 youth information, advice, counselling and support services across the UK dealing with over one million enquiries a year on issues as diverse as sexual health, mental health, relationships, homelessness, benefits and debt. For further information, go to: www.youthaccess.org.uk. Youth Access has published a number of reports recently on young people’s advice needs, all of which are available to download for free from http://www.youthaccess.org.uk/publications