Whether it is advising clients or helping out at our campaigning and fundraising events, the dedication and enthusiasm of our fantastic volunteers is essential to everything we do. As a charity we are always looking for more volunteers to join our fight for free access to justice. On this page you can find the latest news on what our volunteers have been up to, and updates on ways in which you can get involved.
By GMLC volunteer Josie Hicklin. Having recently finished the LPC Josie is a volunteer in the law centre’s housing department. She is also a yoga teacher exploring how to make yoga accessible to vulnerable and marginalised groups. Housing rights campaigners have been celebrating the long-awaited ban on lettings agents charging sky-high fees to…
GMLC volunteer Alex Feery puts legal aid cuts in context, by challenging the presumptions and attitudes framing debates on access to justice. The Government’s operating assumption behind legal aid policy has been for some time that the public is too eager to resort to the courts. It has denounced ‘unnecessary adversarial litigation’.[1] Individuals with…
On Thursday, 11th April, we launched our manifesto at a public event. The event was packed. 150 people were in attendance: students, advisers, lawyers and community groups, old and new friends. The full manifesto can now be downloaded here. Norma Turner, one of GMLC’s founders, chaired the event and speakers included GMLC Patron and human rights lawyer Robert…
by GMLC volunteer Alex McColl R (Johnson & Ors) v SSWP [2019] EWHC 23 (Admin) In January this year, four single mothers won a case in the High Court against the DWP in a judicial review of the way in which universal credit is calculated. Universal credit was introduced in 2013. It merged six other…
Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs) were introduced by the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 as part of a toolkit given to Local Authorities to help them tackle anti-social behaviour[1]. They were introduced against an interesting political backdrop: increasing public concern about anti-social behaviour frustrated the Government, who were in fact seeing overall…
We have a monthly column in the Law Society Messenger. You can see the full February edition here. This month, GMLC volunteer Lily Lewis gives her perspective of the impact of Legal Aid on her work. Lily Lewis is a volunteer with Greater Manchester Law Centre’s Legal Advocacy Support Project. She is currently studying…
We have a monthly column in the Law Society Messenger. You can see the full January edition here. This month, GMLC volunteer Arwa Graf gives her perspective of GMLC’s work and vision. I’m currently in my final year of the LLB at Manchester Metropolitan University. I began volunteering at GMLC when I was 18, during…
We have a monthly column in the Law Society Messenger. You can see the full December edition here. This month, GMLC volunteer Alex McColl writes about what drives him as an aspiring barrister pursuing a career in social welfare and human rights law. The Greater Manchester Law Centre is a campaign for free access…
November 15th 2018 is the 30th anniversary of the 1988 Housing Act becoming law. The Act has faced widespread criticism for undermining private renters’ rights by reducing legal minimum tenancies to six months, allowing landlords to evict tenants without having to give a reason, and removing most restrictions on rent rises. In August 2018, the…
By Robert Povall. Robert is a Campaign Volunteer with GMLC. He has just commenced the BPTC at the University of Law and is passionate about making a difference. He wants to become a Barrister, specialising in immigration, civil liberties and human rights. Below, Robert reviews the DWP’s error which resulted in over 180,000 disability benefit…