Term of Project：1 September 2025–31 August 2027
Amount：NT.1,600,000
Content of Project:
People who experience discrimination, disadvantage and/or poverty tend to experience greater levels of unmet legal need and are less likely than the general population to experience one discrete problem which they recognise as a legal issue. This is why more targeted services are needed
1. Early and Preventative Legal Assistance
A recent review of the services provided by FLAC has highlighted that the groups who are most likely to experience legal problems and who are most in need of legal assistance are not benefiting from FLAC’s existing preventative and early legal assistance services. FLAC are seeking to address this in their new Strategic Plan. The implementation of that plan will involve redeveloping FLAC’s Telephone Information and
Referral Line and Free Legal Advice Clinics into a single Targeted Legal Assistance Programme which provides legal information, advice, advocacy, education, training and representation.
2. Legal Representation
FLAC provides legal representation through their Independent Law Centre which takes a small number of cases every year in the public interest each year. These cases are taken on with the aim of benefiting a wider community as well as being important for the individual client.
3. Targeted and Specialised Services
FLAC’s Independent Law Centre also runs a number of targeted and specialised legal services for groups and communities who experience significant discrimination, disadvantage and or poverty.
Gaps in FLAC’s Existing Services
• FLAC Telephone Information & Referral Line has not typically been accessed by people and communities
experiencing severe discrimination, disadvantage and/ or poverty. This means that the expertise and experience of the staff of the Telephone Line largely reflects the legal needs of the general population and the demand for family law information and advice amongst that cohort.
• The work of the Independent Law Centre is mainly focussed on the provision of legal representation. FLAC has generally only been able to provide early and preventative forms of legal assistance which do not have long-term or core funding.
• Given the differences in the cohorts they provide services to and the areas of law where they provide legal assistance, there are only minimal referrals from the Telephone Line to the Independent Law Centre.
• FLAC has no recent experience or expertise in providing legal assistance to people in low-paid and precarious employment.
Methods
In order to addressing the gaps in FLAC’s services, they propose a two-pronged approach.
1. Service Development
FLAC will develop referral pathways from representative and community organisations working directly with people and communities experiencing discrimination and disadvantage
to FLAC’s preventative and early legal assistance services. It is intended to start with a focus on legal issues arising from low paid and precarious employment and associated problems. They will also develop referral pathways from those services to FLAC’s Independent Law Centre. This will involve the creation of new service development role. The Service Development Officer will identify and develop partnerships with (and referral pathways from) civil society organisations working with target cohorts. They will develop and deliver a triage mechanism to facilitate referrals to FLAC and internal referrals (i.e. from the Telephone Line to the Independent Law Centre). They will also coordinate the delivery of training to FLAC staff.
2. Staff Development
The expertise of staff involved in providing early and preventative will be developed to include the areas of law where there is identified unmet legal need amongst people and communities experiencing discrimination and disadvantage. This will require each member of Telephone Information and Referral Line staff to undergoing training in each of the following areas of law: social housing and homelessness, equality/discrimination and social welfare. These staff members will also spend time shadowing staff
working in the Independent Law Centre who provide legal assistance in the relevant areas of law. All staff providing legal assistance will undergo detailed training in the area of employment law and legal issues experienced by people in low-paid and precarious employment.
Expected Outcomes:
1. Referral paths will be developed from civil society organisation dealing with low paid employees and
employees in precarious employment to FLAC’s preventative and early legal assistance service.
2. Referral pathways will be developed internally from FLAC’s preventative and early legal assistance service to FLAC’s independent law centre.
3. Civil society organisation who work with low paid employees and employees in precarious employment will become more familiar with the legal protections available to the communities that they serve and will have easy access to FLAC’s preventative and early legal assistance service.
4. A small number of cases will be taken in areas of low paid employment and /precarious employment which will have an impact beyond the individual employee.
5. FLAC will draft evidence-based law reform proposals and engage in campaigns for law reform arising from the work of FLAC’s preventative and early legal assistance services and Independent Law Centre.