LegaCare is the UK’s first charity to provide free legal advice and support to patients diagnosed with a life limiting or life threatening illness. LegaCare are a small, specialist team of pro bono solicitors based in the North East who work in close collaboration with Macmillan Cancer Support; also a partner of Legal & General.
LegaCare give advice and support often at very short notice, any time day or night on any legal issues that may be worrying a client as a result of being diagnosed with a serious illness such as guardianship of children, employment, housing, mortgage and debt problems as well as powers of attorney, advance care planning and will writing.
LegaCare is unique in offering this service, which is free to anybody in receipt of state benefits and/or earning less than £30,000. Clients must be referred by a health professional or Macmillan professional and considered to be suffering from a life limiting or life threatening illness. Clients consult with experienced solicitors and receive ongoing unlimited advice to resolve any legal issues and support for family and carers.
Duncan Finch, Managing Director, Retail Protection, Legal & General said : “ I am delighted that we are supporting LegaCare to help them expand their services in the North East and beyond. Our partnerships with charities such as Macmillan Cancer Support and LegaCare help us to improve our understanding of the challenges that our customers face when they are dealing with a serious illness and how we can better support them. What matters to our customers, matters to us and we use this insight to help inform how we improve and develop our products and services to meet their needs. We are particularly interested in helping LegaCare to deliver their services across the UK so that more people can benefit.”
Margaret Kirby, Solicitor and Founder and Director of LegaCare (UK) Ltd said : “I am thrilled to receive support from Legal & General. We are a small charity based in the North East and want to be able to expand to help more people who need our services. I have seen first hand how distressing it is for people, at what is a very harrowing time, to have to sort out legal problems, however simple or complex they may be. We help take this worry away so they can take some comfort from knowing their affairs are in order. Our service is unique and demand is huge, and the last thing we want is to let anyone down – that is why clients are referred by health professionals and Macmillan professionals. Therefore the financial support from Legal & General to fund the recruitment of two additional solicitors is so vitally important. It will allow us to double the amount of clients we can help in 2013.”
Karen Stenlund, Macmillan Development Manager, North East said “ We’re pleased that people affected by cancer have this additional support available to them. Cancer can be the toughest thing most of us will ever face – you don’t need additional worry about legal issues.”
