Annual Review 2006
Chair's Report
Although this report covers the period from April 2005 to March 2006 it is difficult not to mention some major changes for our Law Centre that have taken place since.
The most obvious change has been our office move in July 2006. Our new office on Drake Street is a lot bigger and more suitable than our old office. This is a big step forward in the Law Centre's 15 years of existence. With the Law Centre being the owner of the building we now have a long term home and room for expansion.
We are pleased that we managed this move by only closing the office for a week and to deal with emergencies during that week (court cases, etc). However, after the move we had problems outside our control with our telephone lines and delivery of post. We apologise for the disruption this caused.
On 28th September we had our formal opening day. Vera Baird, QC and Minister for Legal Aid and Social Exclusion, cut the ribbon and wished the Law Centre well. Steve Hynes, Director of the Law Centres Federation and former coordinator of Rochdale Law Centre, congratulated the Law Centre on its new home. Cllr Alan Taylor, leader of Rochdale Council, and Terry Piggott from the Council's Leadership Team also spoke.
The expansion of the Law Centre actually took place some three months before we moved - in anticipation of the move. In April 2006 we employed a Disability Rights Worker (funded by the Disability Rights Commission), a mental health worker (funded by the Legal Services Commission) and a Community Care/Advocacy Worker for older people (funded by Rochdale Council). A report on these three areas will appear in our next annual review.
Another expansion took place after the office move. At our old office we only had room for one volunteer. At our new office we currently have six volunteers.
On behalf of the Law Centre I would like to thank all our funders for making the office move and the expansion in services possible. These are: Rochdale Council, Rochdale Development Agency, Legal Services Commission, Disability Rights Commission, Lloyds TSB Foundation, United Utilities, Awards for All, Heywood, Middleton, Pennine and Rochdale Townships, Community Action Fund, The Duchy of Lancaster Benevolent Fund and Ainsworth & Family Benevolent Fund.
I would also like to thank my fellow board members, the staff and the volunteers for all their work throughout the last year.
Ghulam Shahzad, Chair of RLCChanges to Staff and Board of Directors
Current Staff
Finn Jensen - Co-ordinator/Development worker
Gillian Quine - Housing Solicitor/Senior Solicitor
Heather Hodkinson - Assistant to the housing department
Glynis Graig - Immigration, Asylum Solicitor
Shabana Mann - Immigration, Asylum Solicitor
Bernie Culshaw - Employment Caseworker
Jane Holmes - Employment Caseworker
Mike Fenton - Disability Right Worker
Kevin Lister - Mental Health & Community Care Worker
Hannah Waterhouse - Admin Worker
Susan Powell - Admin Worker
Kate Salt - Accountant
Mavis Banister - Cleaner
Board of Directors / Charitable Trustees
Ghulam Shahzad - Chair
Andre Diba Musangu - Vice-chair
Peter Brierley - Treasurer
Alan Blacker - Secretary
Derek Snowden
Rosemary Jones
Adhiambo Ashall
John Atherton
Ian Mann (Rochdale Law Association)
Employment Report
Staff
The Employment team consisted of Bernie Culshaw (f/t) and Jane Holmes (p/t).
EnquiriesAs usual there were a lot of calls on the employment advice line. The following describes the type of enquiries in order of frequency.
(a) unfair dismissal
(b) wages and pay in lieu of untaken holiday leave
(c) disability discrimination
(d) sex discrimination (most frequently on the grounds of pregnancy)
(e) race discrimination
(f) religion and belief and/or sexual orientation discrimination
We only saw a small number of enquiries concerning (a) race and (b) religion and belief discrimination. This was of concern to us. There appear to be two reasons for this (a) a lack of awareness of the rights and (b) a reluctance to exercise those rights through fear of victimisation.
CasesThe total number of cases opened was 181. A considerable number of these were not taken further following our advice. The total sum recovered for clients was £211,345.88. The highest settlement was for £20,000. As usual claims for unfair dismissal were the most common.
Members of the Employment team attended Tribunal on 23 occasions to represent clients at various hearings including case management discussions, pre-hearing reviews and full hearings to determine liability. This last category amounted to 10 cases. The claimant was successful in 9 of these. In the remaining case the claimant withdrew his claim before the conclusion of the hearing. Of course, the majority of cases settle before hearing.
Client profileIt remained the case that the substantial majority of clients were on very low incomes without the option of paying a solicitor in private practice for help. Without the law centre's help these individuals would have had to represent themselves in Tribunal in most cases against employers' represented by solicitors. Or they would not have pursued their claims. Statistics have consistently shown that unrepresented claimant's have substantially less chance of success of winning at Tribunal.
A similar point can be made concerning enquiries. A similar consultation with a solicitor in private practice would typically cost between £100 to £180 - a sum which is not affordable for many people in the Rochdale borough.
We represented Mr Iqbal in a claim of unfair dismissal against his former employer in March. He won his claim and was awarded nearly £14,000. Mr Iqbal is originally from Pakistan and needed an interpreter at the hearing. His ex-employer was represented by a barrister.
Mrs Iqbal said, "We are very grateful for the help the Law Centre gave. We have 3 young children. His dismissal left us without a job for several months. I do not know if my husband would have taken the case without the Law Centre's help. He does not think he would have won if Mr Culshaw had not been able to show at the hearing that his ex-employer was not telling the truth".
LawThe end of the year saw the introduction of changes to the rules affecting rights on transfer of ownership of businesses, disability discrimination and important case law on statutory disciplinary, dismissal and grievance procedures.
Next years report will, we're sure, highlight the introduction of Age discrimination protection in October 2006.
Immigration Report
2005 to 2006 continued to be a busy year for the Immigration and Asylum Team at Rochdale Law Centre. The year started with a substantial increase in the fees charged by the Home Office for applications. The fee for most type of applications was increased to £335.00 for postal applications and £500.00 for applications made in person. This obviously had a great financial impact on many of our clients.
In November 2005 new requirements for British nationality were introduced. This required those applying to be naturalised as British Citizens to satisfy the Home Office that they have sufficient knowledge of life in the UK. A book was produced by the Home Office setting out what applicants need to know in order to pass a test or get a college certificate in order to meet this requirement. This includes a detailed knowledge of the British Constitution including sovereignty, conventions, devolved administration and European integration together with knowledge of changes in British Society in recent history, such as the changing role of women. We would not like to comment on how many members of the Law Centre staff would pass this test!
2005 was a difficult year for many of our asylum clients. The Government introduced legislation to say that families who had been refused asylum, and who the Government had taken no steps to remove, were to be denied access to any housing or financial support. Rochdale was one of the areas where this legislation was piloted. In Rochdale it seemed that single mothers with very young children appeared to be most likely to be made destitute. In all cases where Rochdale Law Centre became involved we managed to ensure that our clients retained their support.
During this period we assisted clients at all levels of the legal process, from advice to empower client's to deal with their own problems, to taking cases through the judicial system right up to Court of Appeal. We have been informed by the Legal Services Commission that we have one of the highest rates of success in immigration and asylum work in the North West.
The Immigration Department has experienced an increased demand on our services year on year. With only two members of staff we cannot meet the demand on our service and therefore unfortunately cannot help all of those who contact us. We therefore operate a telephone advice line on Tuesday and Friday mornings where callers can get free, confidential advice. If we have capacity and further legal assistance with the problem is required, an appointment may then be offered. We would stress that anyone needing help should contact us as early as possible as the waiting time for an appointment can be several weeks.
Rochdale Law Centre has been offering a specialised service for over fifteen years in immigration and asylum law and we look forward to continuing to provide this to our local community in the years to come.
Rochdale Law Centre Immigration Department consists of two solicitors. Glynis Craig and Shabana Mann. Both have been accredited by the Legal Services Commission to undertake immigration and asylum work at a senior level. Between them they have over 14 years experience in this area of law. Shabana Mann is also fluent in Urdu, Punjabi and Gujarati.
Housing Report
During this year the Housing Team was staffed by Gillian Quine, and Kevin Lister. Gillian is the Senior Solicitor at the Law Centre and Kevin joined us in November 2005 as a trainee solicitor initially working in Housing. Although Kevin joined us to take up a training contract, he has many years of experience in housing law, having joined us from South Manchester Law Centre and having also worked for the housing charity Shelter, Manchester City Council's advice service and in private practice.
The team staff a housing advice telephone line which is open to the public on Thursday mornings. They will also deal with many urgent housing queries on other days. The housing department undertakes casework and representation in Courts and Tribunals. Housing Outreach sessions are held at Middleton CAB and in Heywood at the Customer Service centre of Rochdale Council. Home visits are also arranged on a regular basis where necessary.
The Housing Team participates in the Duty Solicitor scheme at Oldham County Court on a rota basis to advise and represent home-owners and tenants who are at risk of having their property repossessed. The rate of successful interventions in this area of our work is very high and as a result of negotiation families will usually be enabled to remain in their homes and repay outstanding arrears over a reasonable period.
The Housing Team is one of the busiest at the Law Centre. The Law Centre remains the only not for profit organisation giving legally aided housing advice in Rochdale and due to the substantial demand for our services we are unfortunately unable to deal with all the enquiries we receive. We deal with problems such as rent/mortgage arrears, possession, housing benefit appeals, housing disrepair, unlawful eviction and homelessness. Housing problems are often the result of family breakdown, losing a job or physical or mental illness of a family member, and if not addressed in time can result in the devastating further experience of homelessness. With intervention, however, the majority of our clients are able to obtain a satisfactory resolution to their problems.
We hope that the move to larger premises will enable the Law Centre and the Housing Team to continue to expand to meet the increasing demand for our services. In looking forward to this we would like to thank all associated agencies for their continued support and co-operation and in particular the Shelter Inclusion Project, NCH, Women's Aid, Rochdale Advocacy Group and Supporting People. We would also like to thank Middleton CAB for the use of its premises and in providing support and co-ordination for outreach sessions. Thank you to everyone who has helped us to make our service as effective as possible.
Facts and figures about the Law Centre
In the year from April 2005 to March 31st 2006 the Law Centre dealt with 1876 enquiries. The break down is as follows:
Employment: 679 (36%)
Housing: 224 (12%)
Immigration & Asylum: 689 (37%)
Others: 284 (15%)
Our Law Centre took on 466 new cases during the 12 months from April 2005 to March 2006. The break down is as follows:
Employment: 154 (26%)
Housing: 206 (35%)
Immigration & Asylum: 226 (39%)
Others: 1 (0%)
