A Legal Services Board visit reveals the realities of delivering justice in communities that need it most
Several of our team had the privilege of visiting South West London Law Centre (SWLLC) recently to see firsthand how legal services on social welfare issues including housing, debt, immigration and employment, are delivered locally. What we discovered was both inspiring and sobering: an organisation doing vital work under enormous pressure, serving as a genuine lifeline for thousands of people while navigating significant systemic challenges.
Meeting Real Need in Real Communities
SWLLC operates across six South London boroughs – Croydon, Merton, Wandsworth, Kingston, Sutton, and Richmond-upon-Thames – serving people who are predominantly from low-income backgrounds. Patrick Marples, the centre’s CEO, along with his team painted a vivid picture of the people they offer free legal advice to. About half are women from ethnic minority backgrounds, many speak English as a second language, and most rely on benefits or live on very low incomes.
Crucially, clients typically approach SWLLC only at crisis point – facing eviction, overwhelmed by debt, or navigating social services for emergency benefits and assistance.
The Numbers Tell a Story
Last year, SWLLC directly helped 5,469 people and triaged a further 4,532, in addition to the referral lines they have with community partners. The remainder were referred to other organisations like Citizens Advice or local councils –demonstrating the overwhelming need and SWLLC’s role as a crucial triage point in the access to justice ecosystem.
At the heart of their work is the Economic Justice Project, which the team describes as “the backbone” of their service provision. This covers debt, cost of living and housing issues, providing specialist casework and representation — the core issues that deeply affect families and communities if left unaddressed. SWLLC also provides specialist casework in immigration and employment, emergency housing court representation, and runs a volunteer lawyers’ programme, which offers free legal advice. SWLLC also provide specialist casework, emergency court housing representation and runs a volunteer lawyers’ programme, which offers free legal advice. The volunteer lawyers’ programme helps families who can’t afford legal services by giving free advice over the phone five days a week on issues including housing, rent deposits, family, employment, immigration and small claims
The Reality of Digital Exclusion
One of the most striking challenges the team highlighted was digital exclusion. As councils and other organisations have moved to “online only” services, inequality has deepened dramatically. For clients who don’t speak English as their first language or lack digital literacy skills, or access to a computer, what should be simple interactions become impossible barriers – clients can’t access the services they need, and SWLLC staff spend precious time helping clients navigate technology, rather than providing legal advice and support. It shows how well-intentioned digital transformation can inadvertently exclude the very people who need support most.
The Funding Challenge
Perhaps the most sobering part of the conversation centred on funding. Legal aid funding has remained largely stagnant while costs have increased, and local demand for free legal advice has risen. This means the charity is increasingly dependent on charitable donations and grants. However, SWLLC told us that grant applications are administratively burdensome, and as there’s no guarantee funding will follow they have to make tough choices about how to spend their time. This makes long-term planning difficult.
This uncertainty has real consequences for staffing. Legal trainees receive valuable experience at SWLLC, but many move on to higher-paying roles in private practice or government, which makes it difficult for us to retain talent long term.
The Missing Link in Legal Education
Another significant challenge is the lack of social welfare law training for legal professionals. The poor compensation in social welfare law has caused the pipeline of lawyers entering this field to dry up, which in turn has led to fewer courses being offered as student enrolment declines. This creates a skills gap where expertise is most needed for the most vulnerable members of society.
AI: Promise and Peril
Discussions with SWLLC about artificial intelligence revealed both optimism and caution. The SWLLC team acknowledged that AI could potentially help provide clients with advice more efficiently. The LSB shared positive technological developments like Garfield AI, which has shown promise in handling small claims cases at a low cost both for users and legal firms supporting clients, and explored how similar tools might benefit organisations like SWLLC.
The team was honest about their current capacity: “We need to move beyond survival mode to leverage AI’s benefits for our organisation”. They were also concerned about data retention and privacy, ethical use of AI, and ensuring the human element remains central to their work. These are all valid concerns, particularly as SWLLC’s clients are often vulnerable individuals seeking help in emergencies.
The Regulatory Burden
SWLLC also shared their frustration with regulatory complexity. SWLLC must provide information to multiple regulators – the FCA, the LAA, Information Commissioner’s Office, and SRA among others – with significant duplication of effort. SWLLC suggested the administrative burden could be eased by better information sharing between regulators. We committed to sharing this suggestion with stakeholders and other regulators to explore reducing regulatory duplication.
What This Means for Legal Services
Our visit to SWLLC highlighted several issues about legal services in England and Wales. First, there are organisations doing essential work, often in difficult circumstances and with scant support and resources. Second, systemic issues – from legal aid funding to digital exclusion – create barriers that no amount of individual dedication can fully overcome and require a systems level response.
Most importantly, SWLLC demonstrates what access to justice looks like at a grassroots level. It’s not abstract policy discussions or regulatory frameworks – it’s housing solicitor Katy Forkah assisting someone facing eviction, or cost of living advisor Roni Marsh helping a family navigate debt problems, or the entire team working together to prevent someone’s life from completely unravelling on multiple fronts.
As regulators and policymakers, we have a responsibility to understand these realities both for providers and those that need legal services at the most critical moments in their lives. We need to ensure that our decisions support rather than hinder organisations like SWLLC. We need to remember the people behind the policy and the people using the service and keep them front and centre when designing interventions. Whether that’s simplifying regulatory requirements, supporting innovation like AI tools, or advocating for sustainable funding models, we must keep the experiences of real people seeking justice at the centre of everything we do.
The visit reminded us why this work matters – and why we must continue striving to make legal services work better for everyone, especially those who need them most.
