In January 2023, under the Conservative administration, the Ministry of Justice commenced a Review of Civil Legal Aid (RoCLA) to "explore options for improving the long-term sustainability of the civil legal aid system". The process is ongoing. As well as attending all stakeholder meetings, together with our Working Group from the Career Pathway project we made the attached written submissions to ensure that the views of Community Care practitioners were represented in the process. The RoCLA process is continuing…

Access Social Care's legal cases on government transparency around how Government have determined sufficiency of funding to meet the social care needs of the population, and the equality impacts of social care funding decisions are ongoing.

We strongly believe that the Commission into adult social care needs to be aware of this case and as an absolute minimum the Government Departments should be disclosing the information to Louise Casey to consider.

Anna Severwright and Kari Gerstheimer talk to guest, James Bullion, former director of Adult Services at Norfolk and president of ADASS, also DHSC lead for social care discharges and recently, interim Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care at CQC.

This omnibus edition of the podcast looks backwards over the past year as well as taking a look forward into 2025.

Access Social Care and a Working Group of lawyers have come together to create the Community Care Lawyers Group (CCLG). Join us!

In 2022, Access Social Care conducted research on the decline in the number of legal aid practitioners in this area of law. We found that the nature and financial sustainability of the work had led to the decline. Here, we address some of the specific problems that community care practitioners face, including use of investigative representation under the legal aid scheme, and how practitioners can access further support.

Over 60 social care organisations have signed an open letter demanding Government transparency for adult social care funding

Anna Severwright and Kari Gerstheimer talk about the why language matters with Bryony Shannon.

Top Tips: Legal Language

There is no such thing as a magic wand but there are magic words. Listen to this section to help you spot when you need to use a phrase to transform your social care outcomes.

Anna Severwright and Kari Gerstheimer discuss the importance of 'people power' in social care and how lived experiences can and should shape decision-making.

Legal tips: Assessments Vicky Hughes, legal case worker brings her knowledge and experience working in this area to offer some great tips on how to prepare for assessments to present a strong case for consideration.

In the first part of the episode, Anna and Kari talk to data experts Amit Kohli and Hannah Hewish who co-authored the report. They discuss the stark findings from the latest State of the Nation report into adult social care.

We are delighted to share that on Tuesday 15th October, the Information Tribunal found in our favour for our first Information Tribunal case.

And this is only the start. We are awaiting judgement on our second round of enquiries and It is vital that this campaign continues until we get a positive outcome for this too.

And we’re off! Government ordered to reveal social care data in “landmark court case”. Read the Press Release here.

Introduction to the new series & The power of truth: why government transparency on social care funding matters 

It has been over 3 months since our landmark court case which saw two Government departments attempt to overturn the decision that the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) made in our favour. The ICO decision upheld that the government SHOULD reveal crucial data available on social care funding decision making because it is in the public interest.

Join us for an opportunity to look more closely at the practical application of the regs & guidance, using case-based scenarios to consider the appropriate wording, placing of facts and supporting arguments, and the relevant factors to include in an application for Community Care casework.

Access Social Care are setting out to address the lack of new practitioners coming into Community Care legal practice with opportunities for law students to learn about this area of law and gain real life experience.

Access Social Care, working in partnership with University of York, have piloted a Letter Writing Clinic where law students support Access Social Care clients to write a letter to their local authority about their social care issues.

At Access Social Care, we are calling on all political parties to adequately fund social care so that older, disabled people, and carers get the high-quality support they have a right to.

Although the hearing has concluded for today, we are disappointed that due to late disclosure of further evidence by the government, further representations have been requested by the Tribunal panel before they are able to make a decision.

Two government departments attempt to overturn the decision of the information commissioner in “landmark court case” to avoid revealing social care data