The £5.8 million Centre for People’s Justice, led by the University of Liverpool, is a coalition of 45 organisations from the following sectors:
- community
- business
- philanthropic
- cultural
- artistic
- charitable
- legal
- government
- university
It will work across the UK in partnership with:
- University of Glasgow
- The University of Sheffield
- Swansea University
- Wrexham University
- Ulster University
- Institute of Advanced Legal Studies
Improving lives across the UK
Arts and Humanities Research Council’s (AHRC) Executive Chair Professor, Christopher Smith, said:
Our commitment to research in and innovation arising from the study of law and justice illustrates our belief in the potential of arts and humanities research to improve the lives of everyone across the UK and represents the growing importance and excellence of sociolegal research across the UK, which is of world class quality.
Our legal system is and has been for centuries fundamental to a resilient and secure society. It is essential that access to justice is available to all, a principle enshrined already in Magna Carta. That’s why this Centre’s work is so important, and we look forward to its concrete and significant policy recommendations.
Addressing people’s concerns
Convenors of the Centre, Helen Stalford and Lydia Hayes from the School of Law and Social Justice, said:
The Centre for People’s Justice will develop a new approach to research that can foster hope and positivity in a future for the UK in which the public feels better connected to the laws and processes that govern all our lives.
Addressing people’s everyday concerns requires research that can identify problems as well as research that can rise to the challenge of supporting meaningful change.
This is incredibly important work because securing justice across society is essential for a future with improved living standards, better health and care, for feeling safe and for a society in which everyone is supported to fulfil their potential.
Household names
The centre will undertake its worth in collaboration with household names such as:
- The Big Issue
- Citizens Advice
- National Museums Liverpool
- the Royal Shakespeare Company
It will:
- develop a creative programme of research and training to connect the public more closely with how the law is made
- improve accountability for how the law is put into practice
- enhance people’s understanding of their legal rights
The centre will take a grassroots approach, empowering communities to prioritise and co-produce research that responds to urgent social and legal issues including:
- food insecurity
- low-waged work
- tackling violence and conflict
- children’s rights
The Brown Envelope Project
One of the centre’s initial projects, The Brown Envelope Project, will focus on the way the public understand and respond to official correspondence from the authorities.
Everyday law and legal processes are often experienced by the public as a letter delivered in a brown envelope through their front door, such as:
- an unpaid energy bill
- benefits information
- a parking fine
The charity Citizens Advice has highlighted how such letters can invoke fear, confusion and distress, particularly for those with literacy, language or health difficulties, or those under severe financial pressure.
It can mean people avoid engaging with the problem, which leads to further difficulties and money being spent on administration costs that could be better directed elsewhere.
Designing solutions to support people
The research will find out how people respond to ‘brown envelope’ letters and design solutions in which information is clearer, more effective and can better support people to address problems.
It will work with the Department for Work and Pensions and Cadent Gas to identify how these public recommendations could be implemented.
Parveen Bird, Director at The Big Issue, said:
The Big Issue has been around for 33 years now, and we have grown by listening to the real-life needs and experiences of our homeless vendors. That’s why we’re excited about our involvement with the Centre for People’s Justice.
It represents the first time that The Big Issue has ever been invited to be a university research partner and is a unique opportunity to build a new and structured way for homeless and other excluded people to be involved in creating knowledge through research.