Beacon Status

Community Legal Services

Tameside Council has been awarded Beacon Status for its contribution towards the development of Tameside's Community Legal Services Partnership [What the Advisory Panel on Beacon Councils had to say about Tameside]

What this means in practice

People in the Borough of Tameside can now use the Council's front line customer service offices to be referred to a high quality legal advice provider or to make a connection with the relevant information service. This has been achieved by embedding the Partnership's signposting and referral systems into the Councils own customer services offices. A network of information points means that the Partnership reaches people in places like libraries and health centres. A website www.tameside-cls.org.uk   for the Partnership contains a copy of the local provider directory, links to location maps and other useful sites.

Innovative projects have been set up by members of the Partnership to prevent poverty and to provide better access to legal services:

• Providing benefits advice to all new admissions to the mental health unit at Tameside General Hospital. This work also identified the need for earlier interventions to tackle critical debt problems. This work is now to be developed as a result of an award of £600,000 from the Partnership Innovation Budget to develop a mental health and debt advice service.
• Continuous monitoring of the take up of benefits by pensioners - Tameside has a PSA target to increase the take-up of the Minimum Income Guarantee from 76% to 85%. This work has been boosted by a £215,000 award from the Partnership Innovation Budget.
• The number of people being represented in possession proceedings has been increased by the court duty scheme. Supported by private solicitors, a social landlord, the Citizens Advice Bureau, and Shelter the scheme ensures that tenants and house owners have early contact and representation in court.

The Council has adopted the work of the Partnership in its own strategies, with clear links in the Local Strategic Plan, the Social Exclusion Plan and the Public Service Agreement.

Partnership and Quality improvement

• Key partners in the borough prepared and signed a concordat in June 1999.
  
• The Partnership identified all the organisations providing information, help and specialist legal advice. This was used as the basis for an action plan for the introduction of the quality mark.
• Contracts with the voluntary sector were revised to include a requirement to apply for the quality mark. The Partnership provided advice and support on the quality mark. Tameside trained two council officers as quality mark consultants.
• The Council works with other funders of legal services to provide an integrated approach. Tameside and the Legal Services Commission are jointly funding an employment law caseworker.

Details of showcase events that will enable other Local Authorities to learn from the Beacon Councils can be found at www.idea.gov.uk