Website reviews

www.lawontheweb.co.uk

This is a commercial site aimed at the ordinary punter. One of the best according to some. There will be those who prefer its approach to the output from the voluntary organisations noted below. This is very much more in-your-face than those below. It appears to have won various awards and plaudits from various folk. It is rather a busy site: it has loads of content which has been squashed in on the front page: if you’ve got it flaunt it I suppose. There is some Scottish stuff. The “Can I claim” site promoted on the front page itself claims to deal with the law of negligence north and south of the border. The site covers all the most common areas likely to be encountered by the average citizens and has a number of other pages that might be of interest such as links to lawyers’ sites that claim to give free advice…(none though in Scotland). Not great if you don’t like advertising.

Subjective Rating (where 5 is excellent and 1 is poor and no rating indicate that that category has not been assessed)

Site design 2/5

Updating frequency 4/5

www.adviceguide.org.uk

Probably the most obvious start for the general reader who wants to get some general idea about what his or her rights might be is the site of the Citizens Advice Bureau run by the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux. Don’t blame me for the missing apostrophe. The home page is clear and simple: do you want your English rights or your Scottish rights? Those wanting faster loading or who can’t be bothered with graphics are given the choice of a text only version: something that other sites could usefully copy. The site gives information rather than advice. The subject areas include: immigration, employment, social security, housing, tax, travel (including “common problems with holidays”), consumer rights, health housing, consumer rights, communication (mainly stuff to do with telephones), legal systems (including what to do if you are dissatisfied with your solicitor (though advocates are left out for some reason…) and a few other things. The information is brief and without references. Unfortunately the full NACAB information system is not available except through the CABx themselves. Updated monthly I think.

Usefulness 4/5

Site design 4/5

Updating frequency 5/5

www.helptheaged.org.uk

The most useful feature of this well-known organisation is the long list of leaflets  written from the point of view of the aged on a variety of subjects including council tax, social security and health issues. The leaflets are available in a few formats and can be downloaded. All are free of charge. There is also a free telephone advice service. That is not available online unfortunately.

Usefulness 3/5

Site design 3/5

Updating frequency 3/5

www.victimsupport.com

Like the NACAB site noted above, this site too refreshingly recognises that there is more than one jurisdiction in the UK. Not only that, but the Republic of Ireland has its own section too. The Scottish section has sections on what the organisation is about and how to contact it.  It has a variety of leaflets which, curiously, are mostly available (if at all) in jpg format: readable nonetheless. While there is a fair bit of information about Victim Support itself, the site is rather sparse as regards other matters such as the law and victim’s rights. Hopefully, that will be dealt with soon.

Usefulness 2/5

Site design 2/5

Updating frequency 2/5

www.justask.org.uk

This site is the site associated with the English Community Legal Service. Naturally, only English and UK law gets a look in. Useful in Scotland for many things nonetheless such as employment, social security, council tax, social security. A good place to look if you want to know the basics on some aspect of English law such as family law (on that topic try the Children’s Legal Centre at www2.essex.ac.uk/clc/  (not a misprint!)). The site works by connecting some specific query to dozens of links to information on the web by other providers where they have some sort of material on that query. Thus, it can be a bit hit-and-miss since the information thus available is of very different registers and quality. However, it is somewhat more comprehensive overall than the NACAB site probably.

Usefulness 4/5

Site design 4/5

Updating frequency 4/5