Castlemilk Law and Money Advice Centre

Fellow: Abdullah Khalid

The Law Centre started in 1979 at Castlemilk, a peripheral housing scheme in south east Glasgow. The Law Centre is a charity. We use the law to address poverty and social disadvantage in the areas where we work. Continue Reading Castlemilk Law and Money Advice Centre

The Law Centre is run by a board drawn from local people. The board employ the Law Centre staff who are managed by the principal solicitors. For the purposes of professional practice, the Law Centre’s legal work is carried out by the practice of Angus McIntosh and Simon Hodge trading as Castlemilk Law & Money Advice Centre.

The Law Centre’s board identifies areas of work and social need which can be addressed using the law. These relate to social disadvantage and poverty. Most of the areas we work in are fairly obvious and include issues such as poor housing, social security problems, debt and employment.

The Law Centre also identifies particular areas of work which it considers particularly problematic. For example, Castlemilk was a dispersal area for asylum seekers from the year 2000. We accessed resources to provide an asylum project which gave advice to those claiming asylum and represented clients before the Immigration Tribunal and the Immigration Appeal Tribunal.

We have been particularly active in disability rights and women’s rights. We have a substantial caseload on social security issues, particularly in regard to disability related benefits. We have developed our work on women’s rights, especially in employment and are considering how best this applies to women who are engaged in precarious forms of employment such as agency work and zero hour contracts.

Over the years we have expanded from Castlemilk to work in other communities in south east Glasgow including Toryglen, the Gorbals and Govanhill. We have recently moved to new shop front premises in the Gorbals. In Govanhill we work very closely with the Foodbank and carry out a surgery there. We also have a surgery at The Space who provide support services for EEA nationals living in Govanhill and the surrounding area.

We have around 2000 new cases each year and currently employ eight solicitors and two other caseworkers plus additional admin staff.

For further information, visit our website.