Providing access to justice in disadvantaged communities: Commitments to welfare revisited in neo-liberal times

Abstract

Access to justice was central to the post-war Welfare State but this has been under attack, as part of wider neo-liberal challenges. The impacts have been experienced particularly sharply in disadvantaged areas where Law Centres have been providing services to those unable to access welfare rights by other means. The research that underpins this article set out to explore the ways in which these policies have been experienced by those who provide these services, examining their dilemmas as professionals and volunteers in the front-line of welfare provision. The article concludes that whilst there was some evidence that professional ethics and values were being maintained, this was too often at the expense of the staff concerned. Marketization strategies had been undermining public service morale, despite evidence of some continuing resilience and commitment to the provision of access to justice and welfare rights for the most disadvantaged, posing questions about the limits of markets more widely.