News:
We have won the 2006 Community and Social Inclusion Award at the Lord Mayor of London's Dragon Awards, held on Thursday 19th October at Mansion House. The Dragon Awards recognise businesses in London which have taken an active responsibility towards their neighbouring boroughs, sharing knowledge, expertise and time through groundbreaking community projects.
Detail:
We made our submission for our joint project with Barclays - Bow County Court Advisory Network Scheme (BCCAN). BCCAN provides housing debt advice and representation to residents facing eviction, who come before Bow County Court. This service is the only one spread across four London boroughs covering all of the London Borough of Newham, and parts of Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest and Redbridge. Through a joint partnership with Barclays, Community Links and Lovells we have managed to secure the future of the scheme after it faced closure in 2004/5 due to lack of funding and support. The scheme provides vital help to over 1,000 people a year who face the very real prospect of losing their homes in court hearings where legal aid is not available. The service now also provides a debt advisory service on site, to help those facing eviction better manage their finances.
Comment:
The credit for this award goes to the forty Lovells' volunteer lawyers who attend the Court on nine afternoons a month. Between them, they have represented 452 clients with only 10 evictions. In addition, we provide a further 30 lawyers to assist with disability living allowance appeals, often for people who are also facing eviction and have been referred through the BCCAN scheme.