Housing Rights Service respond to the access to justice review

Access to justice is widely accepted as a cornerstone of democracy and a vital ingredient in protecting weak and vulnerable citizens.  Housing Rights Service recently submitted a response to the access to justice review, laying out a number of particular concerns we have. Given the nature of our work, our comments are largely confined to the area of civil legal services.

We welcome adopting a more strategic approach and believe access to justice; 

• should continue to be based on publicly funded legal representation;
• could also involve a greater emphasis on self-help 
• should use alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and ‘unbundling’ techniques.

Housing Rights Service concerns

We do have concerns about the apparent de-prioritisation of housing matters.  We believe all housing issues should be covered, subject to the usual tests. In addition, we believe homeless people and others threatened with homelessness should be regarded as a client category with legal needs due to the particular problems they face in accessing legal information and advice. The particular needs of these client groups should be considered by the review team together with the needs of children and young people; people with disabilities; and older people.

We also argue that;

• judicial review should remain within the scope of legal aid as it is a vital mechanism that allows citizens to challenge the lawfulness of a decision or action made by a public body. 
• consideration given to extending tribunals into the area of housing law
• legal aid should be available on merit for pre-hearings and for help at certain tribunal hearings (including representation at hearings by advisers with expert knowledge).

Our response to Access to Judicial Review argues there is scope for better partnership working between voluntary, statutory and private sector advice providers. Housing Rights Servce would support a mixed model of delivery for publicly funded legal services in Northern Ireland.