How do we learn from people’s experiences?
People facing crises have to navigate the civil justice system. Some will be challenging decisions about their entitlements to welfare benefits or social care. Others will be dealing with debt, homelessness or problems at work. Others may be establishing their right to live and work in the UK.
The Reshaping Legal Services strategy highlights the need for legal services to change, “achieving fairer outcomes for people experiencing greater disadvantage”.
Making such change raises fundamental questions:
- How can we better understand the experiences of the people we serve, from their perspective? How can they help us to learn?
- What do they think about the legal advice that is available to them? What do they think about the difference that this advice makes – or fails to make – to their lives?
AdviceUK’s Whole Person, Whole Community Approach is testing out new ways of answering these questions.
Get rid of the pointless surveys
Many organisations struggle to get feedback from their clients or customers. People don’t see the point of responding to surveys that are unlikely to make any difference to their experience, especially ones that are poorly designed.
Supported by the Aviva Foundation, AdviceUK , Talking Money and St Pauls Advice Centre, we have been redesigning the way in which we learn from people getting legal advice.
Rather than asking clients to complete a standardised survey before or after getting advice, we have supported and enabled advisers and others involved in service delivery to listen actively to clients as they advise and support.
We capture what clients actually say during their interactions with the service. We reflect on what clients actually do, and what seems to be important to them.
Instead of feedback being something that is disconnected from the actual service provided, we have learnt that people getting legal advice services already give us plenty of feedback as they use the service. We just need to look and listen.
We have found that there is often a mismatch between the way we offer legal advice, and what is actually important to our clients.
Understanding what is important to people, particularly people in vulnerable circumstances is vital. It helps us not just to give expert advice on the legal systems our clients need to navigate, but also to work in ways that fit with where they want to go and how they want to get there.
Ultimately, knowing what is important to people helps us understand how legal advice contributes to improving people’s lives.
The challenges facing us in 2022
The long-standing barriers faced by disadvantaged communities have been brought into sharp relief by the pandemic. We’ve seen the impacts in relation to health inequalities, and we know that the same underlying factors also impact access to justice. The growing cost of living crisis will reinforce these barriers. Poverty further limits people’s options and disconnects marginalised communities from the wider justice system.
Not-for-profit legal advice services have a crucial role to play in overcoming these fractures, and reconnecting communities with the wider civil justice system.
The bigger picture
AdviceUK represents and supports 650+ social purpose organisations that give advice in areas such as welfare rights, debt, housing, immigration, employment and community care. This includes legal advice and representation in courts and tribunals. Our members are rooted in the diverse communities they serve.
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