West London Equality Centre has 9 members of staff who between them work the different funded projects, sometimes engaged in more than one. Some are part-time, some full-time, all are legally trained, some are solicitors or trainees. Edmund Akeju is our Chief Executive, who is a former volunteer as are all staff.

Our core service of advice is supported by our project workers and there is much cross referencing, with for instance a client for the EU Settlement Scheme being supported in their benefit appeal by the Help Through Crisis team. Plus we supervise our team of volunteers.

We have a network of volunteers, made up of practitioners, law students, and other volunteers who we have trained and who supplement our work by giving advice themselves, taking enquiries, and upskilling them to a point where they find paid work elsewhere.  Due to the amazing skillset of our volunteers it is not always possible to tell staff and volunteers apart.

Working or volunteering at WLEC means everyone is constantly learning – the team is excellent at information sharing and solution finding, whether legal or non-legal.

We have weekly training sessions to focus everyone on the key issues of the day, sometimes a current affairs item, sometimes a case study or a law change. These are attended by staff, volunteers and trustees.

If we receive a call and the person isn’t in the office that day, we will relay the message and call back during the staff members’ office hours.