you may be familiar with a concept
called the gig economy now this
increasingly popular term relates to the
idea that more and more people are
working in gigs rather than traditional
full-time roles now the idea behind this
is to have more control and flexibility
around your own working hours and such
and yet people don't seem to understand
that the level of protection that is
afforded to them drops below that of
employees status the awareness of worker
status is something that we as a project
are seeking to resolve employees have
the highest level of protection with
them worker status yet independent
contractors are left with a much level
lower level of protection and they have
considerably less stability within their
roles the desire for flexibility coupled
with an imbalance negotiating power
means that those who follow the path of
Independence are left sacrificing rights
and protection in order to achieve
flexible hours and even though people
are choosing to follow flexible paths
and have their own hours they find that
they fail to meet their initial aims as
they find themselves working overtime
and have let much less time for a family
balance and work-life balance for
example over Christmas delivery drivers
for many companies found themselves with
only minutes with their families over
the festive period despite working in
roles that supposedly promote
flexibility and working your errand
hours however is not only independent
contractors who find themselves with no
free time employees with the level of
increase of technology in the workplace
means that people find themselves
working in this 24 hour culture this
workaholic culture is something that we
are all guilty to serve succumbing to
while some people might find that having
their emails on their phone and taking
work calls outside of the office is
something that suits them I know there
will be so many people who dread having
work halls outside of office hours and
those who are more senior roles may find
that they have opted out of the
statutory working week in their
contracts but many people are unaware
that such a statute even exists you have
protection through the law why is this
so No
lies that we make no time for ourselves
and work 24/7 we succumb to this
workaholic culture that is increasingly
popular in modern day life yet it fails
to find the balance that a modern day
family needs why do we find that we have
to work constantly in order to achieve
our aims yet feel like we can't have it
all and have a family and a good career
well you may not know what your worker
status is at the minute by finding out
you can have the potential to save
yourself a lot of hassle in the future
these are the reasons why you need to
know your rights as I'm sure many of you
are aware it can be very difficult to
find a work/life balance in the 24/7
culture family life is something that
many prioritize but there is luck and
realization of its legal basis the right
to even have a private and family life
comes from the Human Rights Act and
ability to exercise that right depends
upon adherence to legal formalities so
what are these these are the rules
sitting behind the rules like when
you're in school and the rule is no
cheating
it means no copying no plagiarism etc
it's just the same when getting married
for example you must give notice have
capacity give consent although you
probably shouldn't be thinking about
cheating when you stood at the altar the
same goes for divorce wills and probate
parental leave child welfare all have
these bodies of legal formality which is
where people trip up the law must adapt
to societal change but it can be
difficult for policymakers to keep pace
with the rate of development
this leaves areas of the law crying out
for action take divorce for example it's
gone on reform for years despite despite
clear public need this is because of
government preoccupation with political
agendas which saw the recent bill failed
due to lack of parliamentary time this
has left the law remaining to be
confusing discriminatory and hostile
look at cohabitation is another example
this receives lacking legal recognition
despite being the fastest growing family
type this leaves couples having to jump
through costly administrative hoops to
gain access to rights over
property finance and children these
barricades leave so many people without
access to any rights at all so what can
we do to change this part of our
initiative is about shaping young minds
including our own to be the next
generation of forward-thinking lawyers
throughout my volunteer work many things
have stood out to me as impractical and
need in action and tracing these things
back to their roots has led me to one
conclusion the disconnection between the
law and the everyday person leads to
misapplication and divergence as a law
student with so much appreciation for
the legal system this is really
difficult for me to see and it's why I
want to diversify the law so my
proposition to you is that we
collaborate in making law making
something for everybody to participate
in and something that supports our
community in contrast there's been areas
of action that have had lacking effect
the government spent 1.5 million pounds
raising awareness of shared parental
leave yet only 50 percent of the
population have even heard of it I'm
sure many of you here today can think of
alternative ways to use these resources
and these would have a bigger impact but
without the backing from legislators
it's so hard for individuals to act the
benefit of knowing your rights regarding
family life and family friendly working
is gaining access to full entitlement
following these legal formalities
ensures any arrangements you make
illegitimate and this knowledge backed
with valid use of policy helps to avoid
vulnerability and this is why you need
to know your rights you may have heard
this quote it reads knowledge is power
one study in law I didn't realize the
power of this quote I really can't
stress enough the importance of knowing
your legal rights and knowing what
support is out there for yourselves and
your community so I've been to India
recently doing some aid work and one
thing that I gained from being in India
was that it opened my eyes a lack of
knowledge between some of the members of
the societies that I worked with and
their knowledge on the law and their
rights it was brought to my attention
and that they obviously weren't aware
fully aware of some areas of the law and
that knowledge that
in from India really inspired me to help
contribute back in my own how back in my
own home in the UK I'll be on a smaller
scale to try and make a change to try
and give people the knowledge on the law
and inspire them to look for the rights
there's a law student I can even find
the law sometimes really difficult to
navigate so I can't imagine what it's
like for people who have never even
studied law never let alone read a
statute book so with this in mind
collects live the four of us we got went
about setting up the Chester Community
Law Project and to help spread some
knowledge on the law and in Hope and of
making it more accessible by going into
community groups and educating them and
how to apply for legal funding and what
it can cover
despite legally cuts in some areas and
for the areas that do you remain you
might even be entitled to legal aid so
it's important to research about it and
obviously look for the projects I'll
look for the law clinics in your local
area which offer this help and because
you do have the right to legal
representation so why not apply through
it through legal aid and I wanted to
find out a bit more information about
other types of people in our communities
who found a lot inaccessible and lacking
in diversity such as adults at risk
speaking to professionals who work
directly through the Care Act in
particular section 42 and it was agreed
that this has been one of the biggest
changes in legislation in over 60 years
and it really strives to push diversity
in this area of the law and it's one of
the biggest it's one of the biggest laws
that really push people to live
independently and also there is state
intervention if necessary an example of
how the law is change to spread
diversity talking to other local
authorities in particular the police and
the police force have has independent
advisory groups I'm not sure if people
have heard of those before and but the
groups are made of members of the public
who advise personal experiences about
their communities or even other
communities and that live experience in
the event of an incident with a police
matter and the knowledge from the I AG's
that the police have gained
it affects their approach in a situation
which ensures fair police and service to
everyone with the goal of ensuring
diversity in the communities and members
of society from a way a wide range of
background and heritage so reflecting on
what I've just talked about the
underlying principle to address the
deficit in diversity in the law and is
using the resources and information out
there available to you and knowing where
the support isn't how to find it so like
I said knowledge is power and this is
why you need to know your rights I want
to discuss diversity in relation to
education I believe that promoting
diversity in education is beneficial for
both teachers and students I myself of
witnesses firsthand at each dance on a
voluntary basis two children from
different different ethnic minority
backgrounds and in primary school I grew
up with a child who had autism and to be
honest it was the best thing so why do I
want to discuss education
well education is the foundation to most
of our future career paths and as a
young girl myself I heard you say that
my daddy did sit his laptop and he's
always working I'd say dad why you
always work in and he'd say well the
world never stops learning so why should
I
that said at the age of nine I didn't
really feel like doing the extra
homework but you know increasing my
awareness as I've grown older I've
really understood the importance of what
you said not only now are we learning
and developing as human beings we have
two likes of artificial intelligence and
if we look at what that is it's self
learning technology so why do we stop
learning why do we stop educating
ourselves cultural integration is
increasing so rapidly and I think that
we need ourselves need to become aware
of this most people grow up with
celebrities being their role models to
me it's my dad he himself is faced
diversity within education he moved from
Portugal to South Africa at the age of
seven unable to speak a word of English
he taught himself English and went on to
be very successful in his education
but when he came to go into university
he was offered the chance to study a
very prestigious tech school in America
but could not do so due to lack of
funding and when I found this out I
thought really we go to university we
can take out student loan and it baffled
me because under the Human Rights Act we
all have the rights of education but
what does this mean what means that each
individual in the UK from the ages of 4
to 18 can go and receive education for
free and then if you choose to you can
go to university on a student loan
should you choose to do so a recent
article stated to me that fees were a
barrier to people who wanted to go into
further education higher education and
looking into this that is true
on average for the legal profession it
costs twenty seven and a half thousand
pounds but that's forgetting a
maintenance loan as well as the cost of
the qualifying solicitors exam or
barrister exams 27 percent of people
from ethnic minority backgrounds felt
that their ethnicity was a barrier to
such a profession and I myself kind of
sat and thought you know what that's a
very high percentage and knowing your
rights here is highly important under
the Equality Act of 2010 everybody is
protected for equal pay in equal
opportunity the Act protects
characteristics such as sex gender
religion race just to name a few an
equal opportunity allows for any job
that you apply for for you to be treated
fairly
without judgments based on stereotypes I
have seen this for difference from when
I first applied for a part-time job
where there was no equal opportunity
form to apply and now for recent
placements where there is that equal
opportunity form and you know what I
think it really is highlighting to me
that the law is progressing and society
is progressing as well despite the legal
profession for example being associated
typically with white middle-aged men
there is evidence that leases change in
a recent statistic highlighted to meet
that 52 percent of mid-sized law firms
are female workers whilst this may seem
like a big difference it still needs
more one in five lawyers in the UK come
from the bane group and this has also
increased
so it's showing that in just the 10
years since this Act has been
implemented there is a change and this
is why you need to know your rights
diversity within a workforce is so
beneficial it allows for people who say
are coming back from long term sick
leave to work from home to integrate
themselves back in it allows for women
who feel that they might be prevented
from going for a job or losing their job
because of a family life it doesn't
exist it allows for a more efficient
workforce it promotes fairness amongst
all and it creates this environment that
everybody wants to work in I myself have
always been wary of the fact that when I
have a career I may have to potentially
choose between a family life or career
and knowing my rights now I know I don't
actually have to do that
going back to what my dad said the world
never stops learning so why should we if
we start learning from a very very young
age that diversity is just society
they'll no longer be this stigma
attached to it it will just simply be
the norm in society in life almost all
of us go through education employment
family life and some may experience from
their ability if you start learning now
it will help you for your future this is
why you need to know your rights
[Applause]