Information for NHS on Mental Health legal services

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About the LSC's work in mental health

The Legal Services Commission (LSC) runs the legal aid scheme in England and Wales.

We work in partnership with solicitors and not-for-profit organisations to provide information, advice and legal representation to people in need.

The LSC is committed to helping people with mental health problems with their legal problems.  In particular, we fund advice and representation for clients applying to the First-tier Tribunal (Mental Health) to challenge the terms of their detention under the Mental Health Act 1983.

Other legal assistance we fund includes work in connection with the Mental Capacity Act 2005, such as “Deprivation of Liberty” cases in the Court of Protection.

Transforming legal aid

Through our dedicated service providers, the LSC helps more than two million people each year get help with their legal problems.

But the growing demand for help and the fact that our budget is limited means change is necessary.

To meet this challenge our transformation programme will create a sustainable legal aid scheme that delivers:

In order to achieve this we will be moving towards a commissioning approach to procurement.  These means we will have greater control over what sort of services are delivered, and where they are delivered.

This will have an effect on everyone involved in the mental health legal system.  For example, you may see the providers in your hospital changing..

Please visit the Transforming civil legal aid page for more detail on changes to our legal aid schemes.

Whole System Initiatives

We have corporate targets to improve the justice system to help it work more effectively for clients, providers and agencies.

In mental health, we are looking at how we and our partners in the mental health justice system can achieve best value for money and continue to increase the numbers of people helped.

We are working with the Tribunal Service Mental Health (TSMH) in England and Wales to improve efficiency and effectiveness for the benefit of:

This year we have made a lot of progress towards achieving these aims, including:

Benefits for you

Hopefully, you will have noticed the improvements that we have made so far with the Whole System Initiatives project.

We are hoping that you will see more of the following as the project continues to gather pace:

Regional Mental Health Leads

If you want to learn more about the work we do in mental health, or if you have anything that you can input into our project, please contact your local LSC Mental Health Regional Lead.

Regional Meetings

In the future we hope to be in a position to set up regular regional meetings between the TSMH, the LSC, and the NHS.  These meetings will be a chance to discuss and resolve local issues around the tribunal process.  They will also be a chance to escalate problems up to national representatives from all three organisations.  We will update this page with more details of this initiative when these become available.  In the meantime, for more information, please contact Oliver Toop.

Complaints Procedure

One of the ways that the LSC and the NHS can work together is to ensure that solicitors are providing an adequate level of service.  If you notice that a solicitor is acting improperly you may have to take action to ensure that this behaviour is rectified.

Before making a complaint you will need to understand the nature of the problem.  If the solicitor has engaged in professional misconduct, your complaint should be directed to the Solicitors Regulatory Authority.  Examples of misconduct include lying to a client (or others), touting for new business or discrimination against a person on the basis of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age.

On the other hand, if you believe that a solicitor has broken the terms of their contract with the LSC, your complaint should be directed to us.  A good example would be a solicitor refusing to take on work simply because they think it is unattractive.  If you have a complaint of this nature, please contact your Regional Mental Health Lead.

 

Last updated: 13 October 2009

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