We continue with our Adults with Incapacity case work including providing pro bono legal work by way of Power of Attorneys for vulnerable older people, and Court representation at Glasgow Sheriff Court in terms of Summary Applications for Guardianship.
Our Adults with Incapacity Unit (AWIU) is headed up by Laura Simpson and Christine McKellar, Senior Solicitors at our Govan offices and Rachel Moon, Legal Partner at our Govanhill offices.
Our AWIU predominantly represents families with applications for guardianship for those suffering from dementia or similar; and parents applying to be the Guardian of young adults who do not have legal capacity.
There have been a number of changes within the remit of Adults with Incapacity and the work is increasingly complex and time consuming with increasingly stringent court requirements. Furthermore, there are proposed changes to legal aid fee structures in which we are participating in Scottish Legal Aid Board’s consultation here.
With a diminishing number of firms doing legal aid AWI work, we are prioritising its importance by focusing our work under one department. This affirms our commitment at GLC to work with the most vulnerable in society and it ties in with our work around the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, the Equality Act 2010 and strategic cases challenging discrimination.
We are lucky to work closely with carers groups and encourage anyone affected by care decisions to contact us about challenging decisions that they believe are unlawful. When we are considering whether to take a case to Judicial Review, we will consider where we can make the most difference within our resources.
