With everyday living costs continuing to rise, many Victorians are struggling financially and have no margin for error when it comes to managing their household budget. If something does go wrong, they may not know who to turn to for help.
Victoria's network of 50 community legal centres can provide critical help to people struggling with ongoing financial pressures, or as a first response for people facing extreme financial stress, such as: responding to scams, dealing with overdue fines/infringements and avoiding bankruptcy or eviction.
Community legal centres are an important part of our social safety net, yet many Victorians will be unaware that they even exist or that their services extend to financial support.
Here are just five of the ways community legal centres are helping Victorians deal with financial hardship and the rising cost of living:
1. Making sure they are being paid correctly
Especially for people who work unusual hours or are a casual employee, it can sometimes be hard to know if you're being paid correctly. There have been many recent cases of workplaces underpaying staff, and with minimum and award wages recently going up, it's important for workers to check their payslip carefully. If people are concerned they might be underpaid, or need help finding out their full entitlements, a specialist community legal centre can help.
2. Giving them confidence in major purchases
Buying a car is among the biggest financial decisions people make, and community legal centres are working to ensure everyone gets their money's worth. From helping avoid buyers ending up with a lemon, navigating the potential minefield of useless warranties to getting a refund when things go wrong, it's good to know there is support available.
3. Dealing with insurance companies following a climate disaster
It's upsetting enough to experience damage to your home or other property in a bushfire or flood, let alone if insurance companies then make it hard to receive a fair payout. Community legal centres have regional communities' backs when they are left to navigate the maze of insurance claims to help them get on with rebuilding.
4. Avoiding scams
Last financial year alone, Australians had more than $2 billion stolen by scammers, with an estimated half a billion of that coming from the pockets of Victorians. With scams becoming more sophisticated and harder to guard against, community legal centres are at the forefront of scam education and recovery, as well as helping deliver new laws which offer Victorians more protection.
5. Managing extreme financial pressures
Financial pressures are often linked to legal problems or directly caused by them. Fines, tenancy disputes, and family violence are just some legal issues that can too easily become financially damaging if not dealt with. Community legal centres can help people get back in control of their legal problems and money, with both financial counselling and legal support available.
If Victorians need help with any of these financial issues - or any other legal matter - they can find a community legal centre by searching on the Federation's website: fclc.org.au
Quotes attributable to Federation of Community Legal Centres CEO Louisa Gibbs:
"Last year, community legal centres helped more than 75,000 Victorians with over 170,000 legal problems - many of them related to cost of living and other financial issues they were facing.
Our support is transformational for the people we work with, helping them to overcome some of the hardest challenges that a cost-of-living crisis can throw your way.
"When things go wrong, we all need somewhere to turn, and community legal centres can provide practical accessible help to resolve the kind of life challenges all of us can face from time to time.
"However, growing demand means that many more Victorians are unable to access this life-changing support, with community legal centres being forced to turn away two out of every three people who come to us seeking our help.
"With the next Victorian election coming up in November this year, we're asking all political parties and candidates to commit to investing an additional $120 million over the next term of parliament to help give 120,000 more Victorians the help they need."
