Site search
  • Community Legal Advice Centres, Networks and Services

Community Legal Advice Centres, Networks and Services

In this section you will find news, briefings and consultation responses on CLACs and CLANs.

CLAC and CLAN Evaluation by Legal Services Research Centre

The Legal Services Research Centre has released its report on Community Legal Advice Centres and Networks (CLACs and CLANs). The study of 5 established CLACs and 3 sites in development is set out in four thorough and lengthy reports. They detail the complexity, tensions and high costs of commissioning a CLAC (over £100,000 on salaries alone in one case for providers and commissioners) against far from conclusive evidence that they have made corresponding gains in advice services for clients. Inadequate monitoring, particular of dealing with clusters of problems – the primary justification for the one-stop-shop approach – mutes the general finding that CLACs have hit targets and seem to be accessible for clients. There is, critically, no data with which to compare the performance of the new CLAC services with provision that existed before. Overall then, a missed opportunity to test out alternative models. Nevertheless, the reports contain useful information about the process and advice delivery issues. The reports are available to download on the LSRC web site. 

The Legal Services Commission will respond to the report and this will feed into the planned fundamental review of legal aid and ultimately therefore to the Treasury spending review.

Challenging CLAC and CLAN proposals

If your agency would like to fight off the introduction of CLACs and CLANs, we have put together a briefing, entitled "Winning the Arguments Against CLACs and CLANs", which highlights the most common arguments a local authority or any other body might put to you to defend CLACs and CLANs and how to respond to them.This can be found at the bottom of the page.

A report for the Local Government Association and Improvement and Development Agency (March 2010) looks at local authority options, including CLACs and CLANs. Click here to read more about this report.

See also our report It's the System Stupid! Radically Reforming Advice and also our Defending Independence campaign.

Derby CLAC

The Derby CLAC was officially opened on 26th June 2008. Advice services are delivered by a consortium. of Derby Citizens Advice and Law Centre along with Derbyshire Housing Aid and two firms of solicitors, Smith Partnership and Moody and Woolley A briefing which provides information and background to the extensive work undertaken by the agencies involved, before, during and after the bidding process, and lessons which other organisations may benefit from is now available at the bottom of this page.

The briefing has been written by Sarah Collins (Development Consultant, AdviceUK), following a meeting with Sarah Hernandez (Chief Executive of Derbyshire Housing Aid) and Sue Holmes (Chief Executive of Derby Citizens Advice
and Law Centre).

Attached documents