1 Meeting the challenges in Legal Advice

The Legal Advice sector includes all those networks, organisations, employees and volunteers who are involved in providing publicly funded independent Legal Advice.

About the Legal Advice sector

Legal Advice is defined as:

Advice and information provided to members of the public about their rights, entitlements and responsibilities under the law
The advice provision is independent, ie the advice is in the best interests of
the client and is not influenced in any way by the interests or views of anyone
other than the client

The sector is characterised by a large body of solicitors, legal executives, paid and volunteer advisors working in a diverse range of Legal Advice providers such as private practice, local authority welfare rights units and not-for-profit organisations.

The organisations that worked together to develop the National Occupational Standards are network and membership organisations that represent the not-for-profit, public and private practice sectors.

Advice Services Alliance
Advice UK
Age Concern England
Citizens Advice
DIAL UK
ILEX
Law Centres Federation
Legal Services Commission
Local Government Association
Refugee Council
Office of the Immigration Services
Commissioner (OISC) co-opted member
Shelter
Shelter Cymru
The Law Society
Youth Access

The Legal Advice sector is characterised by continuous and significant change for providers eg private practice firms and not-for-profit organisations that deliver publicly funded Legal Advice. The duty to provide Legal Advice is also falling increasingly to voluntary and community organisations who are required to bid for project funding. Modern technology provides opportunities for new ways of providing information and advice, through the telephone and the Internet. The baseline remains the provision of independent information and advice. However, there is an increasing emphasis on human rights, equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory practice. Public accountability demands that both public and private sector organisations deliver quality services and value for money.

These changes require increased professionalism, greater autonomy and closer team working by everyone in the sector. Skills for Justice works with all major employment interests in the sector to define the benchmarks of best practice.

Drivers for development

The key drivers for developing National Occupational Standards for Legal Advice were:

The need to improve the quality and consistency of Legal Advice provided to
the general public
The desire to create a more flexible workforce by enhancing the transferability
of skills for staff moving within the Legal Advice sector
The desire to create a more coherent career development path for the legal
advice workforce
The need to raise the profile of Legal Advice generally in order to:
– encourage new entrants to the sector
– encourage members of the public to access services
The need to find a way to enhance access to funding support for the training
and development of workers across the sector

The development of the Legal Advice standards

The standards were developed through a three-year project funded by the European Social Fund, the Legal Services Commission and the sector networks. The project was led by a steering group, comprising the organisations on the previous page.

Practitioners working in advice organisations in the voluntary, public and private sectors were involved the process of:

identifying the functions carried out in the Legal Advice field (the “Functional Map”)
identifying existing National Occupational Standards that cover all or some
of these functions, and the gaps in this coverage where new standards would
be required
developing the generic and knowledge standards through interviews, focus groups and e-mail consultation
refining the standards following consultation across England and Wales

Meeting the challenges in Legal Advice

National Occupational Standards can help individuals and organisations face current challenges by ensuring they have the necessary knowledge and skills and providing a common benchmark for performance.

The Legal Advice National Occupational Standards offer best practice standards for those providing independent information and advice to their clients.

Skills for Justice is working in partnership with other standards-setting bodies, such as those in management and leadership, administration, information technology, customer service and the voluntary sector, to make standards available for all those who work in the Legal Advice sector.

How National Occupational Standards help to meet key challenges

Issue	Challenges	How National Occupational Standards can help
Managing change	Competitive environment Changing cultures Confidence of staff Loss of job security Private/public integration New technology	National Occupational Standards help individuals cope with change by continuously developing and updating their knowledge, skills and competence over a wide operational area. When they use the standards, organisations will develop the flexible and multi-skilled workforce they need and individuals can be confident of having the skills that will be in demand in the future. Occupational standards help organisations create a culture where people work autonomously to best practice standards, whilst supporting other members of the team.
Managing people	Recruitment Motivation Upskilling Evaluation of training Flexible workforce Retention	National Occupational Standards provide an integrated framework for management and development. They help organisations select, develop and retain people with the right knowledge and skills, and motivate staff to work consistently to best practice standards through national recognition. They help to demonstrate the contribution that people development makes to realise business goals.
Promoting human rights	Human Rights Act Anti-discriminatory practice Equal opportunities	National Occupational Standards provide a model of good human rights, anti-discriminatory practice and equal opportunities practice. Employees and volunteers working to the standards must comply with legal and organisational requirements and provide the same quality of service to all clients.
Working in partnership	Integration Networking with other organisations	National Occupational Standards provide a common language and standards of quality when working in partnership with other organisations. Mutual expectations are shared and the measures of performance are clearly stated. Individuals have increased opportunities for transferring their skills to other contexts.
Delivering performance and quality	Meeting operating standards Resource efficiency Value for money	National Occupational Standards are about aligning individual effort with organisational goals and objectives. They provide individual standards of quality that complement organisational standards of quality, such as the Community Legal Service Quality Mark, Investors in People or ISO9001: 2000. Staff working to the standards will be constantly seeking to do their work in ways that are more effective, efficient and economical. This puts the organisation in a strong position to meet its targets and become more competitive in the future.
Developing professionalism	Teamwork Self-organisation Accountability and responsibility	National Occupational Standards put individuals in charge of their own performance and their own development. They can work autonomously with minimum supervision and organise their work with colleagues in teams. The standards clarify levels of responsibility and accountability and people take pride in working to these professional standards of good practice, which also provide a clear structure for career development.
Building public confidence	Public accountability Safety and security	National Occupational Standards help the public and other agencies understand what the sector is trying to achieve. They show that the sector is serious about requiring all employees and volunteers to work to clear professional standards that are designed to deliver independent and accurate information and advice.