A fair chance in life

Coram Children’s Legal Centre

is the country’s leading provider of specialist legal support for children and young people, championing children’s access to justice across family, education, community care and immigration law.

Legal advice and information

The Legal Practice was recognised with 29 points of excellence in its LEXCEL audits and increased its case volume by 12%. The Child Law Advice Service (childlawadvice.org.uk) this year supported two million downloads of its legal information on family and education matters whilst lawstuff.org.uk resources, designed to enable young people to understand their rights, reached 211,000 users.

The service gave personal case advice to 16,247 parents and carers with students in law volunteering to increase the capacity of the education helpline, developing their own careers whilst benefitting children and young people at risk of exclusion.

Feedback from users showed that 94% subsequently had a better understanding of the options available to them. With a cost per call of less than 2% of the total estimated cost to the state of each private law case, we know that our parents and carers are better able to resolve the issues for their child so helping to divert cases from court.

Vital support

Our thanks go to ajaz.org for their support for children and families who are without recourse to public funds; our corporate partners such as Baker McKenzie and all the law firms contributing pro bono hours; our grant funders including BBC Children in Need, the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Pears Foundation.

Standing up for refugee and migrant children

In the face of unprecedented demand and challenges for children in resolving their immigration status, the legal practice expanded its immigration team and work with more than 250 pro bono volunteers to maximise access to justice for vulnerable and marginalised young people and families, a value of more than £1.5m in donated time with a success rate of 97% for applications made.

Training was provided to local authorities across London to support them in resolving the immigration issues of children in their care including

94% those at risk of losing their right to remain following the deadline of the EU Settlement Scheme.

In addition, the Young Citizens group provided peer-led training and support to other young people experiencing the immigration system through colleges, enabling them to understand their rights and move their lives forward.

Coram’s Migrant Children’s Project team has continued active briefing of parliamentarians including hosting an event with young people in the House of Lords with a view to achieving amendments to the Illegal Migration Bill to protect children’s rights.

16,247 PARENTS AND CARERS SUPPORTED

Strategic litigation

The Minister of State for Health and Secondary Care, Will Quince MP, visited the Child Law Advice Service in his constituency. He met with our solicitors and clients in the Legal Practice to hear first-hand the challenges in relation to contact and parental disputes, domestic abuse, and access to support for young people in need.

This year we brought an important strategic judicial review to challenge the government’s policy which meant that a vulnerable, traumatised, pregnant Afghan woman and a child would have had to make the dangerous journey to Pakistan to register their biometrics prior to even submitting an application for family reunion with her refugee husband in the United Kingdom.

The policy and lack of sufficient discretion to waive the requirement in compelling circumstances was found unlawful, a precedent-setting judgement making reunification more accessible for Afghan families.

Supporting children to access education

Coram is the longest serving provider of the Civil Legal Aid contract for Education providing free access for those in need of legal support. Many cases feature the failure of statutory authorities to deliver the provisions of Education Health and Care Plans for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), contrary to law, and the majority of our appeals to the Tribunal are successful.

This year Qaisar Sheikh, head of education law, was recognised as the 2022 Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year for Public Law. He is seen here with Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves MP, on her visit to Coram’s office in her Leeds constituency to explore the issues facing children excluded from school and lack of access to early education. To help tackle school exclusion in North Kensington, we are combining legal advice with therapeutic case consultation in partnership with the Clement James Centre, supported by the local authority and grant funders and are now looking to replicate the approach in other communities.

Ed and Rainah’s story

Rainah is autistic and was nonverbal up until the age of five. After the local authority failed to place her in a specialist school for more than a year, the Coram team intervened to secure the place to which she was entitled. Her father, Ed McCarthy, says “Rainah’s speech has astounded everyone, particularly how quickly it is continuing to develop. Her reading is also light years ahead of where it was and her social interaction has also noticeably improved. We cannot thank CCLC enough for the professional and empathetic way in which the whole team dealt with Rainah’s appeal.”