Law centre, housing and legal aid lawyers will have the opportunity to explain the impact of Covid-19 on justice sector workers to the official inquiry examining the impact of the pandemic and learn lessons for the future.
The ‘Justice Sector Coalition’, made up of the Law Centres Network, Housing Law Practitioners Association and Legal Aid Practitioners Group, has been granted core participant status for the final part of the Covid-19 Inquiry.
Core participants can give evidence, make statements, and suggest expert witnesses, material to disclose and questions for inquiry hearings.
The final part of the inquiry is covering the impact of Covid on the UK population, with a particular focus on key workers, the most vulnerable, the bereaved, mental health and wellbeing.
The Law Centres Network said it has asked the inquiry to look at the effect on vulnerable people’s lack of access to justice and the sudden disconnection from support services and social isolation.
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Greater Manchester Law Centre director Jason Tetley said the pandemic ‘stretched an already overworked and underpaid advice sector much further’.
Ngaryan Li, director of Liverpool-based Vauxhall Law Centre, said that as in-person advice halted and courts went online, many vulnerable people were shut out of justice. As the death toll increased, ‘there was a vacuum of support for the newly bereaved. It was down to the law centre to fill these gaps’.
Public Interest Law Centre’s Joe Latimer said: ‘Justice sector workers provided vital services during the pandemic - helping victims escape abuse, working people challenge unfair employers and access financial support, and a whole lot more. Simply put, the resilience of the justice system and its workers is everyone’s concern. This inquiry provides a unique opportunity to explain why.’
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