Our clients need specialist legal advice and representation to give them access to justice that would otherwise be denied to them. By helping them to assert their legal rights, we not only defend their dignity and human rights, but promote their proper place as members of a fully functioning, genuinely inclusive society.
We meet the needs and address the disadvantage of around 1400 clients per year. They include women fleeing domestic violence, people who are in housing crisis, people with no income or recourse to public funds, those with complex benefit challenges, disabled children and adults. We are able to pursue cases all the way from initial enquiry to representation in the higher courts, if necessary.
Here are the stories of some of our recent clients:
Salman’s story
Salman, a care leaver with learning disability and mental health issues, came to us for help finding a new place to live. His flat was in a state of severe disrepair, and he had suffered an assault from a visitor to the flat, a friend of one of his flatmates. While helping him make an application to the council for support, Salman’s situation suddenly took a turn for the worse…
Monica’s story
Monica lives with mobility issues, anxiety and depression. Helped by her two daughter, she applied for PIP but was only awarded the owest rate of PIP, so the family appealed to an independent tribunal. She hired a private solicitor, but found her PIP was in jeopardy and she risked ending up with nothing. Desperate, she came to the law centre for help.
Farah’s story
Farah fled to the UK from her home country when she was 14. She claimed asylum citing her fears of sexual assault as a young female. However, her claim fell through because she had been unable to tell the Home Office the real reasons for her claim. The law centre was able to step in to help.
Veronica’s story
Veronica had arrived in the UK with her new husband, only to be confined to her home when the pandemic struck. Veronica’s relationship quickly began to deteriorate as her partner became both emotionally and physically abusive. When she went to the authorities for help, she was told she had no right to remain in the UK.
Anna’s story
Anna is a council tenant and a single mother who broke up with her partner, the father of her child, after suffering ongoing physical and emotional abuse from him. After he moved out, he began to take money from her account without her knowledge using a direct debit refund mechanism.
Khalifa’s story
Khalifa was a refugee who had fled her home country due to severe domestic violence. She had lost an eye as a child and suffered extreme trauma resulting in complex and long-term mental health issues, all of this means she needed ongoing medical treatment and support. Once granted asylum she suddenly found herself at risk of homelessness.
Salman's story
Salman is a care leaver with learning disability and mental health issues who was living in a room in a shared flat. The flat was in a state of severe disrepair, with leaks in the kitchen and bathroom and a rat infestation. On top of this he suffered an assault from a visitor to the flat, a friend of one of his flatmates. Already living with depression, his poor circumstances were causing much additional distress and, unable to cope, he came to us and asked for help finding a new place to live.
We investigated whether there was a way Salman could declare himself homeless due to his accommodation being unsuitable due to the disrepair or the violence he had experienced. Although neither proved possible, we discovered his landlord had dramatically increased the rent some months earlier and, although they had not enforced this so Salman was still paying the old rate, this still rendered his accommodation unaffordable in law. This meant he was able to declare himself homeless on that point and make a fresh application to the council. We supported Salman to make this application, making progress despite the council initially refusing to take action.
In the meantime, Salman was given a notice to quit by the landlord’s agents. Although we determined this was not a legally valid notice, the agents still sought to take Salman to court. They also repeatedly harassed Salman to try to get him to move. This included coercing him into signing an agreement to move out and attempting to illegally evict him. We were advised him to ignore the agreement as it was not legally valid and confronted the agents over their activities, forcing them to back down in their attempts to evict him.
Finally, the council found a new place for Salman – a large room in a hostel – into which he was able to move. We were then able to persuade the landlord to drop the court case against Salman, ensuring that he did not have to pay court costs and was able to walk away from the experience with a clean slate and a new place to live that he was happy with.
Monica's story
Monica lives with very limited mobility due to physical health problems as well as severe anxiety and depression since the death of her own mother a few years ago. Her two adult daughters have to make sure one of them is at Monica’s house every day to assist her during the daytime.
Her daughters helped her to apply for the disability benefit PIP (Personal Independence Payment). Unfortunately, the DWP said she only qualified for the lowest rate of PIP, so the family appealed to an independent tribunal. They hired a private solicitor to represent her, but he charged a very significant fee, wrote an ineffective submission and then was unable to go to the tribunal hearing with Monica.
At the hearing, the judge warned Monica that after looking at her GP records they were considering taking away the PIP altogether, leaving her with nothing. This would have been devastating for Monica. She and her daughters felt they were being pushed into a situation where they had to choose between risking what little they had or giving up any hope of Monica getting more than the meagre amount she had been given.
They came to the law centre, and when we looked at the medical evidence, we were able to advise them that it did in fact support her case for a higher rate of PIP, and that the judge had been looking at the individual comments of her GP rather than the whole picture. We wrote a new submission to the tribunal and attended a new hearing with her and her daughters. The judge at the new hearing agreed with our arguments and to the relief of Monica and her daughters decided that she should be receiving the highest rate of PIP. This means that not only is Monica receiving a much higher level of support but at the time of writing was owed a substantial additional sum in PIP arrears.
Farah's story
Farah was only 14 when she came to the UK from her home country. She claimed asylum citing her fears of sexual assault as a young female. However, the real reason was because of her sexuality, although she never felt comfortable adopting an LGBTQ+ identity. In her home country, same-sex relationships are illegal, and she would have to conceal her real identity. She secured representation by a reputable law firm through legal aid, but her experiences meant she felt unable to disclose her sexuality to her caseworker at the firm or to the Home Office, and she lost her case.
In the intervening time she had embarked on a relationship with another girl while living in the UK and was becoming more open about her sexuality. After her claim failed, she feared being deported, which would end the relationship as well as placing her in danger, so she came to the law centre for help.
We worked with her to put together a fresh claim for asylum, this time citing her sexuality and the fact this would put her in danger if she had to return home. This can be very difficult, as often in such cases Home Office officials assume the claimant is fabricating their sexuality to claim asylum, plus in Farah’s case we had to explain why she had been unable previously to raise this previously. We worked hard to make the case in a sensitive way, highlighting her experience as a young person from a country deeply hostile to LGBTQ+ people who was coming out for the first time.
To Farah’s and our delight, she won the case. As well as now being able to stay in the UK and continue her relationship, this means she can now pursue her other dream – to get student finance and a place at university.
Veronica's story
Veronica arrived in the UK in 2019, excited to begin a new life with her husband, whom she had met while living abroad. However, shortly after her arrival, the Covid-19 pandemic hit, leading to a nationwide lockdown. Confined to their home, Veronica’s relationship quickly began to deteriorate as her partner became both emotionally and physically abusive. The situation escalated, culminating in a violent and life-threatening assault. Fearing for her safety, Veronica fled her home and contacted the police.
Authorities swiftly placed her in a safe house, offering temporary refuge. However, shortly afterward, Veronica was dealt another blow when the Home Office informed her that her visa had expired, leaving her with no legal right to remain in the UK. Veronica felt she had no choice but to return to her home country, but upon her return, she faced stigma and rejection from her family and community, who blamed her for leaving her husband. Isolated and struggling with shame, Veronica realized there was no future for her in her home country.
Desperate to return to the UK, Veronica reached out to us for help. After reviewing her case, we discovered that the Home Office had made an error by requiring her to leave the UK; Veronica was, in fact, eligible for permission to stay. After securing funding through the Legal Aid Agency, we helped Veronica obtain a visa to return to the UK. Once back in the UK, we worked with Veronica to help her apply for leave to remain, and connected her with a domestic violence refuge, which provided her with safe accommodation. We also introduced her to various support organisations to help her regain her confidence and plan for the future.
Today, Veronica is thriving. She has settled in the UK and been accepted into a course at a local university. With her newfound stability, she is focused on building a fulfilling life and has aspirations to practice law herself one day. Veronica’s journey has been a testament to her resilience, and we are proud to have played a role in helping her reclaim her life and move forward with hope and confidence.
Anna's story
Anna is a council tenant and a single mother who broke up with her partner, and the father of her child, after suffering ongoing physical and emotional abuse from him. After he moved out, he began to take money from her account without her knowledge using a direct debit refund mechanism.
She only discovered this was happening when she received rent arrears letters from the council, which prompted her to check her payment history with her bank. These arrears were made worse by the council making a series of administrative errors on her account, ultimately leading to Anna ending up with arrears of more than £10,000.
Anna was desperate to have this situation resolved, but despite the arrears being not her fault, and had been made worse by their errors, they failed to take any action to support her and instead issued possession proceedings after Anna had sought to negotiate with them over the arrears for some months.
She came to us after being signposted to us by the council’s own benefits team. Our housing caseworker, Oliver Moore, spent time negotiating with both their benefits and housing team and eventually secured a Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) to clear the rent arrears, resulting in the possession claim being dismissed. Anna is now living in her home safe and free from arrears.
Khalifa's story
Khalifa was a refugee who had fled her home country due to severe domestic violence. She had lost an eye as a child and suffered extreme trauma resulting in complex and long-term mental health issues, all of this means she needs ongoing medical treatment and support.
After being granted asylum, she was placed by Islington borough council in accommodation that was very far away from Islington, the only area in London she knew, and where her only friend lived. It was also too far away from her medical treatment centre, meaning she would no longer be able to access the important support she needs.
They then decided she was not in priority need, and that they would make her homeless. She came to us for help, and we challenged the council’s decision. They agreed that they had got the decision wrong, and confirmed Khalifa did have priority need and they owed her the main housing duty.
However, they did not provide alternative accommodation, so we challenged the suitability of her current accommodation. Again, London Borough of Islington agreed they had made the wrong decision, and decided the accommodation was unsuitable. They then find to provide her with an alternative.
We issued a letter threatening to take them to court if they did not immediately source suitable alternative accommodation. As a result of this letter, London Borough of Islington then immediately offered our client permanent social housing in Islington only 5 minutes away from her medical treatment centre, which she accepted.