Advice and benefits

The Community Legal Service, established in 1999 as part of the Access to Justice Act, aims to develop quality assured advice networks designed to meet local need and to improve access to information, advice and legal help.

The Croydon Community Legal Service Partnership was launched in March 2002. Baroness Scotland, Minister of State at the Lord Chancellor's Department, attended the launch and was pleased to offer her support to the Partnership. The Croydon Community Legal Service Partnership is made up of representatives from the voluntary sector, solicitors in private practice and representatives from the local authority and the Legal Services Commission.

The Partnership focuses on advice services in social welfare law, e.g. welfare benefits, housing, employment, consumer law, debt, immigration, mental health, community care, education and public law. The aim of the Partnership is to establish a network of local advice providers to ensure that people have better and fairer access to services when and where they need them.

If you are looking for legal advice, please visit the Just Ask web site. The Advice Search facility will enable you to obtain legal information from over 300 sites. The Directory facility will allow you to find the closest provider for the category of law with which you need help. If you would like to know more about the work of the Legal Services Commission, up to date information can be found on www.legalservices.gov.uk.