The Government has published its response to research on the Civil Legal Advice Mandatory Gateway.
The Gateway is delivered by the Civil Legal Advice (CLA) advice helpline for England and Wales, paid for by legal aid.
It provides specialist legal advice, primarily by telephone, online, and by post, in debt, discrimination, Special Educational Needs1, housing, and family issues for people who qualify for civil legal aid.
It is available Monday to Friday 9am to 8pm and Saturday 9am to 12.30pm. Outside these times users can leave a message and CLA will call back within one working day.
Clients who qualify for legal aid in the 3 Gateway categories must usually receive any advice remotely. However, clients who qualify in the other categories of law have a choice about whether to receive any advice remotely or via a face-to-face provider.
Information on how to access the CLA Gateway is available @ https://www.gov.uk/civil-legal-advice
The research the Government is responding to consists of four reports:
- Civil Legal Advice mandatory Gateway: Overarching research summary;
- Findings from Interviews with users; Findings from qualitative interviews with service providers; and,
- A secondary analysis of Management Information.
The Government Response covers:
- the background to the Gateway and the purpose of the review;
- our work prior to its launch;
- our response to the themes emerging from the review;
- our conclusions about the effectiveness of the service; and,
- the related work that has been undertaken by the Ministry of Justice and Legal Aid Agency relating to the Gateway.
Among the response’s conclusions are that:
“Overall, the research confirms that the Gateway is effectively meeting the specific needs of users who qualify and contact the service.
It is encouraging that the research findings were broadly positive of the Gateway, recognising its flexibility and ease of use including; the extended opening hours, convenience (in terms of time and avoiding transport costs and inconvenience), and being able to obtain ‘quick’ advice without having to attend an appointment.
The research highlighted the benefits of the range of adaptations that are available to support users who require them to access the service.”
The CLA Mandatory Gateway Review and the four research reports are available @ https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-legal-advice-mandatory-gateway-review