Find out everything there is to know about our legal chatbot
ChatBox
Every day, millions of older and disabled people are suffering rather than getting the social care they need. This affects all of us – we will all need social care at some point. Most local authorities can’t meet the growing demand for care, none are confident they can meet their legal duties in the future.
We all have a right to hold public bodies to account. But most of us cannot afford lawyers so rely on legal aid. The 91% drop in legal aid cases since 2010 means we have nowhere to turn. Without access to justice, our rights do not exist. The rule of law is broken.
Here at Access Social Care we want to improve access to justice, and provide information about the law to anyone who needs it, when they need it. Our solution is a legal information chatbot, available 24/7 and free to use. Our chatbot tells you about the law and helps you access further help.
About the legal chatbot
The legal chatbot delivers legal information about community care and welfare benefits, to older or disabled people, their families, and carers. The chatbot is designed to take the user through their situation and identify a letter that they can send to help resolve the problem they face. The chatbot is free to use.
If you have not been able to find the help you need on the chatbot, you can find someone to speak to by searching for local advice services on the advicelocal website. Member organisations can contact Access Social Care here.
The chatbot uses Rasa technology, which means that it learns from each chat and gets better at understanding questions and answering them over time. More information about Rasa can be found here.
The chatbot covers the law in England
The chatbot provides legal information about social care law in England. When we talk about the law we mean the law in England. The chatbot should not be used to seek legal information for someone who lives outside England. However the chatbot also provides information about welfare benefits, which usually covers England and Wales.
Easy to read and understand
The legal chatbot is designed to give legal information to older or disabled people, their families, and those providing care and support or information to older or disabled people.
We want as many people as possible to be able to understand and uphold their rights. We are working to make the chatbot as easy to read and the information as straightforward to understand as we can. However, we recognise that the law is a complex system and some people will not be able to use the chatbot effectively themselves. Where needed, we hope that families and supporters will be able to use the chatbot to share the information with the person in need of care and support in a way that works for them. We will continue to work to make the chatbot accessible.