Cost of Living Crisis Clinic

Client: The Westway Trust

Established in March 2022, our Cost of Living Crisis Clinic was founded to help residents, in particularly deprived areas of inner-city London, challenged with rising inflationary food and gas prices, (29% and 36.9 %, respectively). In collaboration with grass roots-based community charity partner, Westway Trust, we connect lawyers from international law firm Hogan Lovells LLP and BNY Mellon’s legal banking team to support clients in crisis due to income deprivation, unsanitary housing/homelessness, financial insecurity and digital exclusion/poor literacy.

In 2023, 80 volunteers from Hogan Lovells and BNY Mellon provided over 780 volunteer hours, assisting 414 clients to apply for approximately £1,313,312 of potential unclaimed benefits and grants. We improve the living conditions of low-income tenants by holding rogue landlords accountable and assist those who become homeless into temporary accommodation. We empower vulnerable families with social capital and help those who are digitally-excluded to apply for in-work/disability benefits and grants, making them better placed to afford decent homes, will enrich their long-term physical and mental health. Our service is to be co-delivered and co-produced by those with lived experience, who are best informed on how to deliver our service successfully and to the hardest to reach community members.