In November 2017, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched a new ‘advice for advisors’ service for the advice sector, solicitors, trade unions, others organisations providing advice to individuals, and ombudsman schemes. This builds on existing work in Scotland and Wales.
They will operate a helpline offering specialist support on equality and human rights issues arising in queries and disputes, alongside online resources aimed at advisors.
Initially this second-tier advice service will operate as a pilot, and the intended users will be national organisations and advice lines, services in Wales and Scotland and in the North West region of England (Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside).
If you would like to find out more, you are welcome to contact Francine.Morris@equalityhumanrights.com (0161 829 8443); or Irene.Henery@equalityhumanrights.com (0141 228 5966) if you are in Scotland.
The EHRC would like to know whether your organisation is likely to make use of the advice for advisors service, and what kind of support you would like to have from the service. A link to a very brief, two-question survey follows, and we would be grateful for your feedback so that we can better plan around the needs of potential users of the service.
http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/serviceforadvisers/