Sharon Challands


What a great start – homelessness prevented this morning!

We just wanted to share about an amazing result this morning. As soon our reception was open at 9:30am today was a Council tenant contacted to say that they were being evicted at 11:30am this morning. Matt Brown, a Solicitor, took some instructions from the tenant over the phone before Luke Ridge, a Housing caseworker, dashed off to their house in Derbyshire to check the paperwork. Luke spotted an error and rushed back to Court whilst Matt rang ahead to alert them that we needed to make an application at the last minute.

Housing Legal team passed with flying colours!

Derbyshire Law Centre’s Housing Legal Team have passed their Independent Housing Review of their cases.

The reviewer, commissioned by the Legal Aid Agency said, “Most of the Law Centre’s files demonstrated good, clear, effective, tailored advice and casework. Where appropriate, advisors were prepared to attend local authority possession/tenancy review hearings and attend court under the representation at court scheme”.

We were mentioned on BBC Women’s Hour!

Teresa Waldron, who is deafblind, works part-time as one of the senior managers at Derbyshire Law Centre and is also Managing Director of Deaf-initely Women. Here on BBC Women’s Hour she applauded Rose Ayling-Ellis, a Deaf Actor and contestant in Strictly Come Dancing for being a role model for deaf people, breaking down barriers.. Teresa resonated with Rose, like her as she is also proud to be deaf.   Teresa said “I have worked at the Law Centre for 27 years now and I remember being diagn0osed in 2003 for having Ushers Syndrome which meant I had to give up driving. My colleagues were and continues to be supportive of me as my sight has deteriorated.”

Together with advice agencies, we have made a huge difference!

With  funding from Community Justice Fund that we have received during the pandemic, we have indeed made a huge difference to people’s lives in Derbyshire. Together, we have supported 483,000 clients a year and helped the Treasury to save £8000 per person assisted. This equates to a net benefit to the public purse of £4billion per year!

Our Solicitor is on Bolsover TV!

Thanks to Bolsover District Council, they have invited Derbyshire Law Centre to take part in Bolsover TV.
Lisa Haythorne, a Housing Solicitor, has kindly accepted their invitation to talk about how the pandemic has affected our clients in struggling to pay their rent or mortgage and what we have been doing to help them stay in their own homes.

Watch the video – Lisa Haythorne is on at three minutes in.

We are so proud to be part of Money Sorted Partnership!

Money Sorted Partnership has undertaken its fourth yearly evaluation on how well this project is doing and how it meets the needs of those requiring one-to-one budgeting support. Click Money Sorted in D2N2 Y4 Evaluation Report to read more about the Partnership’s learning and its progression during the year.  If you’re short on time to read the report, here is the summary: Money Sorted in D2N2 Y4 Evaluation Summary

Just in time – the Evaluation report

We are proud to present you with the Just in Time’s Evaluation report. The evaluation report highlights the difference that Just in Time have made for employees with long term health problems and their referring agencies such as Ingeus, Occupational Health and GPs.