Dr Sara Closs-Davies, Senior Lecturer in Accounting and Taxation, has published a briefing paper offering guidance on how to improve social welfare legal (SWL) advice, using insight from providers across England and Wales.

Social Welfare Legal Advice and Engaging with Communities: A Blueprint, has been developed with a team of experts from Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organisation (GMCVO), Bangor University, University of Exeter, and UK Advice Services Alliance.

It was informed by the experiences of advice providers across four different case study areas – Greater Manchester, Anglesey, Dartmouth and the London Borough of Hackney. They shared promising practices that have had positive impacts on how local communities gain access to social welfare legal advice, while also acknowledging existing barriers and discussing where future research would be beneficial.

Many key themes emerged, including the importance of building trusted relationships between those seeking help, formal advice providers and community organisations; being physically embedded within communities and properly listening; and establishing funding streams specifically devoted to developing networks and connections.

The blueprint was created as part of a wider research initiative, funded by the British Academy and Nuffield Foundation as part of the Understanding Communities £1.1 million research programme, and explored how access to social welfare legal advice interacts with community connectedness, (in)equality and wellbeing.

As a result of the research, the team was able to map out community characteristics and advice organisations in each case study area, engage with advice providers and other local stakeholders, and conducted semi-structured interviews with residents to examine their social networks, experiences and approaches to advice seeking.

Sara shared her thoughts on the project, saying: “We have been able to use our findings from the bigger research project in various government calls for evidence and events to help inform policy and practice within social justice and advisory services, and in how social welfare advice service organisations are funded. The research team and I continue to create future impact.”

Read the blueprint and find out more about the research project.