PLP are monitoring the current operation of courts and tribunals and would like to hear the experiences of users. Please do fill in their survey here if you can.

They are also working to scrutinize the Government’s emergency legislation and are interested in hearing from the charity and legal advice sector about the impact of this legislation on their work – more details about how to get in touch here.

Birthrights have produced a statement and FAQ on rights in maternity care during the crisis. They have seen a huge increase in demand for their advice service and are particularly concerned about the removal of the right to have a birth partner before, during and after labour; suspension of some maternity services, including home birth; restricted access to pain relief and rationing of elective caesarean sections. Birthrights has been writing to trusts and have seen a number of trusts change policies as a result. 

Maternity Action are responding to huge demand for advice on social media and on their website from women concerned about their legal rights and benefits during pregnancy and maternity leave and on their health and safety at work during the pandemic.

They have directly raised with the Government concerns over both the emergency Job Retention scheme and Self-Employment Support Scheme which leave pregnant women, new mothers and parents disadvantaged.

They are also joining with other bodies to call for NHS charging to be suspended during the crisis, including for migrant women which is the focus of the All Mothers campaign.

Coram CLC have been looking at the implications of the Coronavirus Act 2020 for children with special educational needs (SEN) and have produced an FAQ for those caring for children with education, health and social plans here.

Family Rights Group have produced advice for kinship carers on helping children maintain contact with the people important to them even if they can’t visit them and advice for families with a child in the care system.

In Scotland, a new law has been put in place for the time being for children’s hearings and for looked after children. Clan Childlaw have put together a guide to the specific changes that people might need to know. They have also launched a survey to hear how the lockdown is affecting children and young people to help them shape their services.

The COVID-19 lockdown has had a disproportionate and terrible impact on victims and survivors of domestic violence who are unable to leave violent homes.

Public Interest Law Centre (PILC) and Solace Women’s Aid, along with many others, have written to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to demand that urgent action is taken, and PILC and Southall Black Sisters have just launched a legal challenge on the Government’s failure to provide funding for safe accommodation.

You can join the email campaign to put pressure on here.

Inclusion London raised strong concerns about those aspects of the Coronavirus Act 2020 which loosen authorities’ statutory duties under the Care Act to provide care to Disabled people and others. They have a useful summary of the Act’s changes to social care here. They are now monitoring how the legislation is affecting services and asking people fill in a survey about experiences of social care since the crisis started.

They are continuing to campaign on a wide range of issues that are affecting Disabled people and supporting Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations (DDPOs) to do so as well. New resources include a template letter for DDPOs to use to raise key concerns with local authorities and a template letter that people who employ their own personal assistants can use if they are struggling to get PPE equipment.

Access Social Care is working with frontline partners and other social care helplines to pool the data and identify emerging trends about how the crisis is affecting people needing care.

They are responding to this in a number of different ways, including resources, casework, providing additional training or support and updating their legal rights chatbot (coming soon!).

Resources that readers may find useful include guidance on: Access to medical treatment during COVID-19 outbreak, Care Act easements and also here Q & A on Care Act easements, COVID-19 restrictions – England only, and on welfare benefits.

Access Social Care was formerly the Legal Network at Mencap – and is now an exciting new charity helping people get the care and support they have a right to.

Medical Justice – who were awarded funding in our latest open round which supports organisations to implement successful litigation – are advocating with many others for immigration detainees to be released.

This is also the topic of the final article in the Unlawful State series by openDemocracy in which Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID) provide a powerful account of the plight of detainees in a pandemic.

• started to provide expertise to government at a local and national level on food vulnerability
• joined calls for increases in support for those on low incomes which has resulted in some improvements including a modest increase in universal credit
• helped to secure a commitment to continue to provide free school meals for vulnerable children.

And coming full circle, we finish with PLP who have produced a short series of FAQs here for Universal Credit advisers and claimants – including the 100,000s of new people who have signed up – to help them make better sense of what could be expected of them during the COVID-19 period.