header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us

Justice in a time of austerity (Pt 2)

© Copyright LexisNexis 2025. All Rights Reserved.
17 January 2019 / Dr Jon Robins
Issue: 7824 / Categories: Opinion , Legal aid focus
printer mail-detail

Food for thought: Jon Robins reports on the current state of foodbanks & the impact of universal credit
 

In the six months up to the end of November, Hammersmith and Fulham Foodbank fed 7,342 people compared to 6,376 last year and 3,317 in 2016. A fortnight before Christmas Day I shadowed Sophie Earnshaw, a lawyer running a free legal advice clinic at the foodbank as part of the ‘Justice in a Time of Austerity’ project.

During our morning at St Matthew’s Church, just off Wandsworth Bridge Road, South Fulham, we met a 33-year-old woman from Algeria with three children under the age of 16. ‘I haven’t received any money for three months. I’m living off food vouchers,’ Asma told us.

Earlier in the year, her husband threatened to kill her (not for the first time) and social services arranged for her and the children to move to a refuge. She hadn’t a penny to support her and the children since she left their father. Her housing

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
Pillsbury—Peter O’Hare

Pillsbury—Peter O’Hare

Partner hire bolstersprivate capital and global aviation finance offering

Morae—Carla Mendy

Morae—Carla Mendy

Digital and business solutions firm appoints chief operating officer

Twenty Essex—Clementine Makower & Stephen Du

Twenty Essex—Clementine Makower & Stephen Du

Set welcomes two experienced juniors as new tenants

NEWS
Read All
NLJ this week: Alarm bells over Mazur
The High Court’s decision in Mazur v Charles Russell Speechlys has thrown the careers of experienced CILEX litigators into jeopardy, warns Fred Philpott of Gough Square Chambers in NLJ this week
NLJ this week: Jury trial & a constitutional illusion
Sir Brian Leveson’s claim that there is ‘no right to jury trial’ erects a constitutional straw man, argues Professor Graham Zellick KC in NLJ this week. He argues that Leveson dismantles a position almost no-one truly holds, and thereby obscures the deeper issue: the jury’s place within the UK’s constitutional tradition
NLJ this week: The rise—and risks—of going private
Why have private prosecutions surged despite limited data? Niall Hearty of Rahman Ravelli explores their rise in this week's NLJ 
NLJ this week: Human rights disputes push courts to redefine their role
The public law team at Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer surveys significant recent human rights and judicial review rulings in this week's NLJ
NLJ this week: Debarment orders—shortcut or minefield?
In this week's NLJ, Mary Young of Kingsley Napley examines how debarring orders, while attractive to claimants seeking swift resolution, can complicate trials—most notably in fraud cases requiring ‘particularly cogent’ proof
Copyright © 2025 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll