Community Legal Service Partnership
Barking and Dagenham
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 Access to Justice Act abolished the old legal aid scheme for civil matters (family, welfare benefits, housing and debt cases) and replaced it with the Community Legal Service Fund, administered by the Legal Services Commission, the successor body to the Legal Aid Board.
The Barking and Dagenham Community Legal Service Partnership is our local means of promoting the aims of the Community Legal Service.
The Partnership is made up of representatives from the voluntary sector, solicitors in private practice, the local authority and the Legal Services Commission.
The Partnership consists of 2 main structures:
- Steering Group
- A wider partnership forum
We focus on advice services in social welfare law, for example 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.
To get advice
If you are looking for legal advice, please visit the Community Legal Service Direct website. 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 within the borough.
Information points
An extensive range of free booklets can be found at the Community Legal Service Partnership Information Points.
Legal Services Commission
Find out more about the work of the Legal Services Commission.
Find out more
To find out more from the Barking and Dagenham Community Legal Service Partnership, we can be contacted at the address shown.
News on a community advice centre for the borough
Procuring a Community Legal Advice Centre in Barking and Dagenham - Questions and Answers 
PDF 214K
The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and the Legal Services Commission are pleased to announce that we have agreed to work together to develop a Community Legal Advice Centre in Barking and Dagenham. The centre will deliver integrated social welfare law and family law services.
Barking and Dagenham Community Legal Advice Centre - Needs Analysis PDF 436K
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