Lewis: £60,000 donation
Consumer champion Martin Lewis has donated nearly £60,000 to support a new helpline for litigants in person in the family and civil courts.
The helpline has been set up by the charity Support Through Court (formerly the Personal Support Unit), and will operate five days a week from Birmingham City University’s law clinic.
The launch follows a successful four-month pilot last year, when over 3,000 calls about housing, money claims, divorce and child arrangements were handled by volunteers.
The helpline has been funded by trusts and foundations, and Support Through Court patron Martin Lewis, who has donated £57,685 to ensure the helpline can run for the next two years.
He said: “Too many people now go through court alone, without legal aid, leaving us with a deficit of justice. Support Through Court has done great work for many years, and I’m a big fan of helplines, so I am delighted to be involved in making this happen, as an efficient way to help more people get such crucial back-up.”
Support Through Court currently operates with around 750 volunteers in 20 court centres, but chief executive Eileen Pereira said that left 90% of courts across England and Wales uncovered.
“The helpline will go far in contributing directly to empowering more people who have to navigate the complex and stressful court system on their own,” she said.
When he became a patron in late 2018, Mr Lewis said: “People are being forced to represent themselves, even though most have a very limited understanding of the court system and the law. That is not a properly functioning legal system, and it makes you question whether they will get justice, when it matters most.
“People need support and someone to stand by their side… Civil justice is not a well-known or popular cause, but the emotional and often financial toll on people facing court alone is significant…
“It is vital that those facing these extremely difficult situations receive guidance and support at a time of crisis.”
Great idea. However from my recent experience of defending myself and winning, though losing financially basically due to mismanagement by the court and a change of judge. They do not follow their own rules, and there is no where to report them to, as the Judicial Ombudsman only covers misconduct of a personal nature or bias, not case management misconduct/errors and when I asked them who does, they said the court. I said, thats like asking the police to investigate themselves, they agreed and so the judges are not accountable to anyone when they dont follow the correct case management process.
I was taken to the small claims court, it cost me £10k+ to defend myself, won, 1.5 years and 2 main hearings and 2 experts, everyone Ive spoken to agrees it should have been a higher track because it was wrongly put in small track, I never got my costs back, purely due to the judge and court not managing the case correctly. And at the start they never gave me a defence pack. The other side served papers on 19th December, you have 14 days to reply, regardless of Christmas holidays, you can only imagine the stress I was put under, and that was the intention. The system of “justice” is a largely a myth unless you have pots of money or good help.