This week BID was interviewed for research currently being conducted into the quality of legal advice for asylum seekers, with reference to the position of immigration detainees.
The research has been commissioned by the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority (SRA), Legal Ombudsman (LeO) and Unbound Philanthropy , and is being conducted by Asylum Research Consultancy (ARC), MigrationWork CIC, and Refugee Action .
The research will map the legal services market for asylum seekers, and identify
- Barriers to effective use of legal services for asylum seekers, their access to redress, and whether these barriers restrict their access to justice
- What constitutes good and poor practice
- A definition of quality for asylum legal work
We were pleased to be able to share data from BID’s series of 11 legal advice surveys, including over 1500 separate interviews with immigration detainees held in IRCs and prisons over the last four years. We were able to comment on barriers to accessing immigration advice for those people with a protection claim that are held in IRCs, and the benefits and limitations of the legal surgery model and Legal Aid Agency exclusive contracts for this work. We were also able to highlight the severe limitations on access to immigration advice for detainees held I the prison estate, including those making protection claims.
'Summary: Access to immigration legal advice for immigration detainees across the UK detention estate (Surveys 1-8)', July 2014 can be downloaded from the very bottom of the right hand column of this page.
A full report on the findings of of these surveys and a further three carried out with detainees held in prisons is currently in preparation for publication by BID in autumn 2014.
We were also able to share the findings of earlier research with similar objectives carried out by one of BID’s Research & Policy Managers while working at the Information Centre about Asylum & Refugees (ICAR) at City University, and commissioned by Refugee & Migrant Justice (both organisations have since closed down). The Cost of Quality research, carried out between 2009-10, worked with legal practitioners, refugees, and various agencies to examine the effect of fixed fees for legal aid work on the quality of advice provided to asylum seekers. The project developed a normative quality framework, with indicators and proxies for good quality asylum work, and a file review scoring system based on these factors.
Reports from this research can be downloaded from the very bottom of the right hand column of this page
Adeline Trude & Julie Gibbs, (2010), ‘Review of quality issues in legal advice: measuring and costing quality in asylum work’, ICAR and RMJ.
Adeline Trude & Julie Gibbs, (2010), ‘Cost of Quality Legal Advice: Refugee Interviews’, ICAR and RMJ.
Adeline Trude, (2009), 'Cost of Quality Legal Advice: Literature Review’, ICAR.
Downloads
Review of quality issues in legal advice measuring & costing quality in asylum work 2010
