Callers to the Civil Legal Advice (CLA) helpline with family issues will no longer be referred to specialist telephone advice from 1 September 2021. Instead, they will be offered alternative support arrangements by being signposted to their nearest face-to-face family providers.
Other areas of telephone advice provided by the CLA in England and Wales will be unaffected by this change. These include education, discrimination, debt, and housing work.
How will the new family process work?
Operators will carry out an initial ‘means and merits’ assessment for the client. This will provide an early, initial case determination.
If the issue is in scope, and clients are financially eligible, they can then be signposted to their 3 closest providers. If not, they will continue to be signposted elsewhere for possible help.
This is a change from the current referral process for specialist telephone legal advice on family issues. However. these changes do not affect access to family advice. Clients who qualify for legal aid can continue to get face to face help from family…
