Thousands of Londoners could be denied access to the UK’s most respected free legal advice and information service.

The Association of London Government is threatening to cut its funding of the service provided by the human rights organisation Liberty.

Liberty is renowned for the quality of its specialist lawyers, all of whom are
acknowledged experts in their fields. For over 20 years the ALG (and its predecessor the GLC) has recognized that Londoners need the expert service that only Liberty can provide and has provided the funding, currently just under £50,000 per year.

Up to 3,000 Londoners a year uses the service. Some have questions about employment rights or their benefit entitlement. Many cases concern access to children and problems with child support. Others come to Liberty because they believe they have been wrongfully arrested

There are other advice services but none that are able to take on cases in the way in which Liberty does. Indeed many of those coming to Liberty do so because they have been advised by other agencies to do so.

John Wadham, director of Liberty said: ‘The amount of money we are talking about is quite small, just £50,000, but for that we provide a remarkable service. That’s less than £17 per enquiry for which you get the best legal advice available. Just imagine what that would cost if we were a private firm!’

NOTE:
Although London accounts for 11% of the UK population, fully 33% of the people coming to Liberty needing help are from London. -three times the national average.