Community Legal Service launched.

ARE your debts mounting up? Threatened with eviction? Legal worries? Don't know who can help you with legal advice? Too many people solve their legal problems alone because good advice is too hard to find.

The new Community Legal Service is a government initiative, launched recently, to help people find legal help and advice. The aim is that everyone, regardless of their circumstances, should be able to find good quality legal advice if they need it.

Already there is full coverage of England and Wales by quality assured law firms and centres which can give free advice to eligible people, the cost being met from public funds.

But also, in many areas, these are linking up with other advice centres, such as Citizens' Advice Bureau to form local partnership networks. These will make it easier to find out about your rights and how to enforce them, and to solve your problems.

The Government and local authorities are the key funders of civil legal help and advice. Together they already spend more than pounds 1 billion on legal services which are directed at those who cannot afford to pay for themselves. Community Legal Service partnerships are already being developed in many parts of the country.

The Government's aim is that by April 2002 the vast majority of people in England and Wales will have the benefit of a partnership in their area.

Advice centres and lawyers' firms who meet special set standards will display the new Community Legal Service quality-mark.

It will show people who need legal help and information where to find quality service and where to get the local Community Service network. As this network builds up, if one quality-marked provider does not offer the service needed, it will refer a client.

The quality-mark is awarded by the Legal Service Commission, a new public body which has now replaced the Legal Aid Board. It will monitor standards of service offered by quality marked agencies. Legal advisers will still be responsible for the service they provide, but the public will know that Community Legal Service quality-marked offices are signed up to the new standards of service and referral and are regularly checked against those standards by an independent body.

Free legal help will be provided from the government's Community Legal Service Fund (CLSF) where people qualify for it. Whether someone qualifies for this help depends on their financial position and the nature of their case. There are organisations such as the Citizens Advice Bureau and Law Centres which may be able to offer free help regardless of someone's financial means.

The CLSF could help eligible people pay for help with legal problems including divorce, family and children issues, advice on welfare benefits, problems with credit, debt and buying foods, worries about rent and mortgage arrears, property repairs and eviction, immigration and nationality issues and clinical negligence cases.

All quality-marked Community Legal Service lawyers and advisers, and those applying, are listed in the Community Legal Services Directory which are based in public libraries.