Specialist Support Services

On this page:

What is Specialist Support?
Who is eligible for Specialist Support?
Advice lines
Ongoing support

What is Specialist Support?

We fund nine Specialist Support organisations to provide a second tier, expert service in civil categories of law to eligible organisations. Specialist Support covers:

housing
welfare benefits
debt
employment
immigration
community care
public law
mental health

Who is eligible for Specialist Support?

Eligible organisations are those holding a:

LSC General Civil Contract
Specialist Quality Mark
Quality Mark for General Help and General Help with Casework
LSC General Criminal Contract doing mental health or public law work

Advice lines

For full details of operational hours please see the Specialist Support: Advice lines document under Documents.

It is possible to contact some organisations via email or leave a voicemail outside opening hours. The organisation will then get back to you.

Ongoing support

The Specialist Support organisations can help first tier providers manage complex casework or new legal problems on an ongoing basis. This usually takes the form of casework on a particular case.

Examples of the type of support on offer are :

advising on witness statements
editing/commenting on pleadings
checking draft letters and submissions
assisting in case management systems
assessing compensation
advice on handling negotiations
providing assistance with appeals and reviews
assisting in developing tactics and strategy

This type of service should first be accessed through the advice lines. The organisation will advise if they can offer ongoing support.

For more details plese contact John Corn at john.corn@legalservices.gov.uk or by telephone on 0161 244 5070

>back to top

Last updated: 30 June 2008