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Advice Strategy

1. Advice Strategy

The Community Legal Service Partnership ( CLSP) brings together organisations with an interest in legal advice and information. It aims to improve advice and information for people in Calderdale, by looking at issues like quality and access.

1. Introduction

   The Legal Services Commission ( LSC) is a government agency that replaced the Legal Aid Board in April 2000. The LSC has the responsibility for developing the Community Legal Service ( CLS) nationally. Launched in April 2000, the CLS is a quality assured, regionally sensitive system for delivering a fundamental right – justice for all. The main aim of the CLS is to ensure that everyone has easy access to high quality advice on legal matters, from help with benefit entitlement or rent and mortgage arrears to discrimination and rights at work. This advice will be delivered in a variety of ways to take account of the differing needs that communities face. As with the old Legal Aid scheme, much specialist work will be undertaken by franchised solicitors. However, the CLS will also support other agencies that may be better placed to deliver information and advice, for example Citizen Advice Bureaux, local Law Centres or other voluntary groups.

   We believe that such a diversity of approach is the only way in which to meet the diversity of need that exists in many communities.

2. The Calderdale Community Legal Service Partnership

   The local Community Legal Service Partnership ( CLSP) is the vehicle by which the vision of the CLS will be delivered locally. The CLSP brings together a range of funders, providers and representatives of key users of advice services in order to develop a strategic approach to the funding and provision of advice services in Calderdale.

   The Calderdale CLSP includes potentially every organisation within Calderdale, which gives information and advice to members of the public. It is important to remember that the CLS is not an organisation – rather it is a network of existing organisations that subscribe to certain principles and standards regarding the provision of information and advice. This commitment is demonstrated largely through successful application to achieve the CLS Quality Mark at the appropriate level and the signing of the partnership concordat (see Appendix B ).

   The CLSP steering group (‘the steering group’) exists to guide the partnership towards its stated aims and objectives. The overall aims of the CLSP are to:

   • Develop the Community Legal Service ('the CLS') for the benefit of the people of Calderdale.
   • Work together to ensure that the CLS provides a network of quality assured providers of advice services based on a clear understanding of local needs, supported by a co-ordinated funding strategy.

   Membership of the steering group consists of:

   • One individual appointed by the Legal Services Commission
   • One member of Calderdale MBC with one officer in attendance
   • One health sector representative
   • One ‘umbrella group’ representative from Calderdale Voluntary Action
   • One Law Society representative
   • Four ‘Not for Profit‘ providers – reflecting a range of users
   • Two providers in receipt of LSC mainstream funding, nominated by the LSC
   • One designated user representative

   The steering group also has the ability to co-opt members on to the group on such terms and for such a period as the group may, in its discretion, determine where this may facilitate the achievement of the CLSP’s aims and objectives.

   This group is charged with a number of key roles; chief amongst which is the production of an advice strategy for Calderdale. This document is that strategy.

   It is perhaps useful to begin by detailing exactly how this strategy was arrived at. Each CLSP has a number of roles that it needs to fulfil in producing a strategy. These include:

   1. Analysing local need using a combination of specially developed LSC needs indicators and local knowledge
   2. Mapping local supply in information and advice provision
   3. Producing a gap analysis in order to identify unmet need in the area
   4. Producing an advice strategy for Calderdale, which incorporates the above, setting out what gaps there are in provision and how these might be addressed.

   The local CLSP has now undertaken these steps and now feels that it has a clear understanding of needs, gaps and priorities for action, which can help inform the work of funders and providers over the next three years.

3. Calderdale background

   Calderdale is one of the smaller Metropolitan Districts. The largest town, Halifax, accounts for almost half of the population, and is very close to Bradford and Huddersfield. Much of the rural west of the district consists of the upland of the South Pennines, broken by narrow steep valleys, and containing the towns of Hebden Bridge and Todmorden. To the south and east of Halifax are the towns of Brighouse, Elland and Rastrick.

   1. The population

      The resident population of Calderdale, as measured in the 2001 Census, was 192,405 of which 48 per cent were male and 52 per cent were female. This is a modest decrease of 0.2 per cent on the 1991 population. (Percentage change since 1991 has been derived by subtracting the revised mid year 1991 population estimate from the Census 2001 population figure). The age profile for Calderdale is shown in the chart below.

   2. Calderdale age profile

      Source: 2001 Census, ONS

      Census 2001 data shows that the ethnic minority population accounts for around 7 per cent of the population, slightly below the average for England and Wales. The ethnic minority population is principally of Pakistani origin (4.9 per cent of the total population). According to 1991 Census data this population group are mainly resident in one area of Halifax, and characterised by an extremely young age-profile, with almost half being under 16 in 1991, compared to one-fifth of the white population. There are also smaller ethnic minority communities in Todmorden and Elland. The steering group will however consider further new Census data when it becomes available later in 2003.

      The ethnic structure of Calderdale is shown in the table below. Figures for England are shown for comparison purposes.

      Table 1: Percentage of resident population in ethnic groups

      Ethnic Group	Calderdale	England
      White	93%	90.9%
      Mixed	0.8%	1.3%
      Asian or Asian British	5.7%	4.6%
      Black or Black British	0.2%	2.3%
      Chinese or Other	0.3%	0.9%

      Source: 2001 Census, ONS

   3. The local economy

      In recent years, service industries have overtaken manufacturing in terms of number of employees. However, manufacturing (29 per cent) continues to account for almost one-third of local employment, far above the West Yorkshire (23 per cent) and Great Britain (18 per cent) figures.

      Whilst male employment continues to exceed female total employment, the continuing trend is one of an increasing proportion of female employment being full-time, and a rise in the number of males working part-time. Female economic activity rates and employment levels have historically been high in Calderdale.

      Residents of the district who are in work are paid significantly below the national average hourly rates, but close to West Yorkshire averages. The average hourly rates of women are about 90 per cent those of men.

      The rate of unemployed 16 to 74 year olds is 3.8 per cent, compared to 3.4 per cent for England and Wales. (Source: 2001 Census, ONS) Previous indications show that one-third of claimants had been unemployed longer than 12 months, and over one-third were under 25 years old.

      St John’s, Town, Mixenden and Ovenden wards, all in Halifax, have unemployment rates significantly above the district average.

   4. Social profile

      The proportion of children living in over-crowded conditions substantially exceeds the national average, as does the number living in households without central heating. (19.3 per cent, this is ranked 15th highest out of 376 local and unitary authorities within England and Wales. Source: 2001 Census, ONS)

      A relatively high proportion (14.1 per cent) of households with children under 16 are lone-parent households.

      The district is characterised by very high levels of terraced housing, and relatively low levels of detached or semi-detached housing and flats.

      Calderdale has a high proportion of households with no car (31 per cent - 2001 Census, ONS), relative to national figures, and a higher proportion of dependent children living in households with no car.

      In April 2000, 22 per cent of households received Council Tax Benefit. In three wards, the figure exceeded 38 per cent.

      43 per cent of all people claiming benefits administered by the Council were pensioners.

      Both infant mortality rates and overall mortality rates are significantly higher in Calderdale than the regional and national figures.

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