Advice and Advocacy Services and Law Centres in Scotland Most Law Centres will deal with civil matters only, if your problem is to do with criminal law or there is no law centre in your area, you should contact the Scottish Law Society which will be able to help you find a Solicitor. It can be contacted in the following ways. Telephone: 0131 226 7411 Website: www.lawscot.org.uk Email: Lawscot@lawscot.org.uk Advice and advocacy services may be better for more minor issues not necessarily needing special legal knowledge. If they cannot help you they should refer you to a law centre or the Scottish law society. NB:- Some services only deal with people from a certain area of the country or from a certain group (ie; Students, people with learning difficulties, etc.) and most only deal with certain areas of law (employment, welfare benefits, etc) Please make sure the service you are contacting matches your needs as far as possible. Advice and Advocacy services National Organisations Scottish Independent Advocacy Advice (all Scotland) Telephone: 0131 260 5380 Website: www.siaa.org.uk SIAA is an umbrella organisation of advocacy groups. They should be able to put you in contact with an advocacy group in your area. They are generally not legally qualified but may be able to help and support you in resolving minor issues. Capability Scotland (all Scotland) Telephone: 0131 313 5510 Website: www.capability-scotland.org.uk E-mail: ascs@capability-scotland.org.uk Capability Scotland offer advice and support on accessing services such as community care and other general disability issues. It does not offer any legal advice but may be useful if you are looking for information on applying for welfare benefits or community care services amongst other things. Update (all Scotland) Telephone: 0131 669 1600 Website: www.update.org.uk E-mail: info@update.org.uk Update offers advice on general disability issues and should be able to refer you to appropriate specialist organisations. Skill Scotland (all Scotland) Telephone: 0800 328 5050 (or 0131 475 2348 if you are calling from a mobile) Website: www.skill.org.uk E-mail: admin@skillscotland.org.uk Skill offer advice on education issues to Further and Higher Education Students (usually College and University Students) including students in work based training programmes (day release, earning and learning, etc.). Citizen’s Advice Scotland (all Scotland) Website: www.cas.org.uk CAS is the umbrella organisation for Citizens Advice Bureaux in Scotland. They generally specialise in areas such as housing, debt and welfare benefits. Some offices may have experience in more specialised areas such as immigration. Kindred (all Scotland) Telephone: 0131 536 0593 Website: www.kindred-scotland.org Kindred only deal with children and young people up to the age of 24 It offers advice on Community care, issues involving the Disability Discrimination Act, Education and Welfare Benefits Local Organisations Aberdeenshire Disabled Persons Housing Service (Aberdeen) Telephone: 0122 481 0222 Website: www.dphsaberdeen.org Email: info@dphsaberdeen.org Offers advice on Housing issues to disabled people. Aberdeenshire Disability Action Service (Aberdeenshire) Telephone: 0146 762 9909 Website: www.aberdeenshiredisabilityaction.org Email: info@aberdeenshiredisabilityaction.org Offers advice on general disability issues. Glasgow Glasgow Centre for Inclusive Living Telephone: 0141 550 4455 Website: www.gcil.org.uk Email: gcil@gcil.org.uk Textphone: 0141 554 6482 GCIL mainly deal with enquiries regarding the Disability Discrimination Act, Community Care and Welfare Benefits. Lothian Lothian Centre for Inclusive Living (Edinburgh, Midlothian, East Lothian) Telephone: 0131 475 2350 Website: www.lothinacil.org.uk Lothian CIL offers advice on Welfare Benefits, Community Care and Disability Discrimination Act issues. It does not offer legal advice but should be able to help with filling out benefit forms and giving you an idea of what help you might be entitled to. Disability West Lothian (West Lothian) Telephone: 0150 677 4030 Website: www.dwl.demon.co.uk Email: enquiries@dwl.demon.co.uk Textphone: 0150 677 4044 Disability West Lothian offers advice on general disability issues to people in West Lothian. The Action Group (Edinburgh, East Lothian, West Lothian, Midlothian) Telephone: 0131 475 2316 Website: www.actiongroup.org.uk Email: advice@actiongroup.org.uk The Action Group offers advice on Welfare Benefits as well as general money management advice to people with Learning Difficulties. Law Centres National Law Centres Legal Services Agency (National) Telephone: 0141 353 3354 Website: www.lsa.org.uk LSA specialises in Housing Law, Asylum Law, Mental Health Law and Welfare Benefits. It may be able to offer basic advice and information on other areas Environmental Law Centre Scotland Telephone: 0844 335 6741 Website: www.elcscotland.org.uk Email: info@elcscotland.org.uk The ELC only deals with issues around environmental law in Scotland. Local Law Centres (please note that where a city has more than one law centre we have given the postcode to help you find the one closest to you) Dundee Dundee North Law centre Telephone: 0138 230 7230 Website: www.dundeenorthlaw.org.uk The DNLC focuses on issues such as housing, debt, welfare benefits, employment law, consumer law, education, community care and criminal injuries compensation. Edinburgh Edinburgh University Legal Advice Centre Telephone: 0779 972 4648 Website: www.law.ed.ac.uk/probono The Edinburgh University Centre can provide advice and support on a wide range of legal issues including housing, welfare benefits, tax, family law and contract. It may be able to offer advice on areas other than these and can also help with filling in forms and letter writing. Ethnic Minorities Law Centre (see website for further details of areas covered) Telephone: 0141 204 2888 (Glasgow) 0131 229 2038 (Edinburgh) Website: www.elmc.org.uk Email: admin@elmc.org.uk (Glasgow) Edinburgh@elmc.org.uk ELMC provides advice on issues to people from BME backgrounds including asylum and immigration, employment and race discrimination. Mainly in Glasgow, Edinburgh and the east of Scotland. Fife Fife Law Centre Telephone: 0159 286 0503 Website: www.fifelawcentre.co.uk Email: info@fifelawcentre.co.uk The Fife Law Centre mainly gives advice on housing, employment and child law as well as small claims issues. It may also be able to offer basic help and advice in other areas of law. Renfrewshire (Including Glasgow) Castlemilk Law and Money Advice Centre (G4 9UG) Telephone: 0141 634 0313 Email: mail@castlemilklawcentre.co.uk The Castlemilk law centre offers advice on a variety of areas of law as well as giving advice on debt and other financial issues. Drumchapel Law and Money Advice Centre (G15 8TG) Telephone: 0141 944 0507 Website: www.dlmac.co.uk It offers advice on money issues and welfare benefits as well as employment, human rights, consumer issues and housing. It also has project designed to help children aged 8-18 that deals mainly with family and education issues. East End Community Law Centre (G4 0UW) Telephone: 0141 552 6666 Email: info@eeclc.com Deals with a variety of areas of law although mainly concerned with money advice and similar issues. Govan Law Centre (G51 2BZ) Telephone: 0141 440 2503 It should be able to offer advice on a range of issues including housing, education, debt, employment, asylum law and small claims issues. Renfrewshire Law Centre including Glasgow (PA1 2JY) Telephone: 0141 561 7266 Website: www.rlclaw.co.uk The RLC deals with a variety of areas of law including housing, eviction, disrepair, antisocial behaviour, homelessness, Housing Benefit, welfare benefits, debt, consumer rights, bankruptcy, Employment Law, asylum & immigration and Children's Law. ______________________________________________________________ Legal Disclaimer Although great care has been taken in the compilation and preparation of this work to ensure accuracy, DLS cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions. All information provided is for education/informative purposes and is not a substitute for professional advice. Any organisations, telephone numbers and links to external web-sites have been carefully selected but are provided without any endorsement of the content of those sites. For further advice on these matters please contact: Disability Law Service Telephone: 020 7791 9800 Minicom: 020 7791 9801 Fax: 020 7791 9802 Email: advice@dls.org.uk Or write to us at: 39 – 45 Cavell Street, London E1 2BP Registered Charity Number 280805, Company Registration Number 1408520 Last updated: October 2010