Disability Law Service
Disability Law Service is a UK national charity founded in 1975 that provides free legal advice and representation to disabled people and their carers across community care, employment, housing, discrimination, public law, and welfare benefits, supplemented by paid training for charities and corporates.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1975
- HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Disability Law Service does
Disability Law Service (DLS) is a UK national charity founded in 1975 by Lynne Brooke, originating from the Kith & Kids parent self-help group, and headquartered at The Foundry, 17 Oval Way, London SE11 5RR. The organisation provides free legal advice and representation to disabled people and their carers across six practice areas: community care, employment, housing, discrimination, public law, and welfare benefits. DLS operates as a Disabled People's Organisation (DPO) with 75% of trustees and over 50% of employees being disabled people, and serves approximately 5,000 people annually, handling around 30,500 calls per year on its legal advice line and providing representation to nearly 4,000 individuals. It runs a specialist MS Legal Advice Line and the Three Guineas Trust-funded MS Benefits Advice Service, and delivers outreach clinics including the Propel Project in Tower Hamlets.
The core technology stack consists of cloud-based case management systems and a proprietary digital legal information platform called WorkRights (workrights.org.uk), developed with funding from The Legal Education Foundation to support disabled employees navigating reasonable adjustments in the workplace. DLS holds a Specialist Quality Mark from the Legal Aid Agency in Community Care Law, has been a member of adviceUK since 1979, and is a registered Disability Confident Employer. The organisation has built precedent-setting case law, including the 2014 European Court of Human Rights ruling in McDonald v UK on Article 8 rights in adult social care.
Revenue is generated through a diversified mix of Legal Aid Agency contract funding, trust and foundation grants (notably Three Guineas Trust for the welfare benefits advisor and The Legal Education Foundation for WorkRights), individual donations and corporate partnerships, fundraising events including London Marathon and London Legal Walk, and bespoke paid training programmes for charities and corporates at competitive rates. Free legal advice is delivered directly to consumers via telephone, email, in-person outreach across multiple London venues, written advice, and online factsheets, with the commercial training arm representing a B2B/B2B2C capacity-building extension of the core service.
Disability Law Service firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Disability Law Service
- Legal name
- Disability Law Service
- Website
- https://dls.org.uk
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1975
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Disability Law Service is a UK national charity founded in 1975 that provides free legal advice and representation to disabled people and their carers across community care, employment, housing, discrimination, public law, and welfare benefits, supplemented by paid training for charities and corporates.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Disability Law Service industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Disability Legal Services
- NAICS
- Services for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities (62412), Social Assistance (624)
- SIC
- Services-Legal Services (8111), Services-Social Services (8300)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Disability Services & Independent Living Support (BPAGAEAG)
Keywords
Where Disability Law Service is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- London
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Disability Law Service business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Donations and Fundraising: Individual donations, corporate partnerships, and fundraising events including London Marathon and London Legal Walk
- Legal Aid Funding: Contract funding from Legal Aid Agency to provide legal advice and representation in scope areas
- Training Services: Bespoke legal training provided to corporates and charities at extremely competitive costs; 3-hour welfare benefits training for charities
- Trust and Foundation Grants: Project funding such as Three Guineas Trust funding for welfare benefits advice project
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free Legal Advice Service |
| Unit Pricing | Multi-year contract | Charity Training |
| Unit Pricing | Multi-year contract | Corporate Training |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels7 records
Marketing channels7 records
Disability Law Service product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Disability Law Service is a UK national charity that provides free legal advice, information, and representation to disabled people and their carers across community care, employment, housing, discrimination, public law, and welfare benefits. It also delivers bespoke disability law and Equality Act training to charities and corporates, and operates the WorkRights digital legal information platform for workplace reasonable adjustments.
Product overview
Disability Law Service (DLS) is a national charity providing free legal advice and representation services to disabled people and their carers. The organization operates a single unified service model centered on direct legal advice across community care, employment, housing, discrimination, public law and welfare benefits. Supporting the core advice service, DLS offers a digital legal information platform called WorkRights for workplace reasonable adjustments, and delivers bespoke training programs for charities and corporations on disability law and the Equality Act. Specialized services include an MS Benefits Advice Service, MS Legal Advice Line, and the Propel Project providing outreach legal clinics in Tower Hamlets.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- WorkRights: A digital legal information platform developed with funding from the Legal Education Foundation, providing advice on reasonable adjustments in the workplace. Accessible at workrights.org.uk.
Quantifiable outcome
- Serves 5,000 people each year with many clients in distress due to discrimination or improper care
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Disability Law Service
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Disability Law Service technology and API
TechnologyAPI detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature1 record
Disability Law Service partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- London Legal Support TrustcoreJoint hosting of Community Care Forum meetings. London Legal Support Trust is a key partner in the legal advice sector supporting hundreds of legal advice charities across London through events like the London Legal Walk.
- Muscular Dystrophy UKminorTraining partnership providing employment and discrimination law training to Muscular Dystrophy UK volunteers ('Ambassadors') for their Moving Up employability project. DLS senior employment lawyer Stephen Robson delivered the training.
- EvenbreakminorPartnership with Evenbreak, a not-for-profit social enterprise job board run by and for disabled people, to support disabled job-seekers in finding employment. Evenbreak connects disabled candidates with inclusive employers including Channel 4, John Lewis, and Lloyds Banking Group.
- adviceUKcoreMember of adviceUK, the UK's largest support network for free, independent advice centres. adviceUK was formed in 1979 as the Federation of Independent Advice Centres (FIAC).
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Disability Law Service competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Scope: Major UK disability charity providing advice, information and support on disability rights, benefits, and employment — overlaps with DLS's benefits and employment advice but at significantly greater scale and brand reach.
- Shelter: Large national housing charity providing free legal advice and representation on housing issues, one of DLS's six practice areas — overlapping in scope but a much bigger incumbent operating primarily in housing law.
- Leonard Cheshire: UK disability charity supporting disabled people with employment, benefits, and independent living — comparable in its user-led ethos and focus on disabled people's rights and access to support, but operating internationally and at significantly larger scale.
- Mind: UK mental health charity providing advice and information on rights, benefits, and discrimination — comparable in providing free legal-style advice to a specific disability population and in offering training to employers and organisations.
- Mencap: Leading UK charity for people with learning disabilities offering advice, advocacy, and legal-services partnerships; comparable as a specialist disability charity with overlapping advice/training functions but with a learning-disability focus and far larger footprint.
- RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People): Major UK sight-loss charity offering advice on welfare benefits, employment rights, and discrimination — overlaps with DLS's welfare benefits and discrimination practice areas, focused on a single impairment group at much greater scale.
Direct peers
- Disability Rights UK: National disability-led organisation campaigning for rights and providing information on benefits, employment, and independent living, with overlapping missions to DLS around disabled people's access to rights and welfare support.
- Law Centres Network: UK-wide federation of Law Centres providing free specialist legal advice and representation to people who cannot afford a lawyer, including in social welfare, housing, employment, and discrimination — the closest direct analogue to DLS's not-for-profit legal aid model.
- Access Social Care: Charity providing free legal advice and representation on community care law — directly mirrors DLS's specialist Community Care Law Quality Mark focus and serves a very similar disabled-client population.
- Citizens Advice: National network delivering free, independent advice including on welfare benefits, employment, housing, and discrimination — overlapping directly with DLS's practice areas and serving disabled and low-income clients across the UK.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Disability Law Service social profiles
Digital presenceDisability Law Service compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance4 records
Disability Law Service financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Disability Law Service leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Disability Law Service funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Disability Law Service M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Disability Law Service
What does Disability Law Service do?
Disability Law Service is a UK national charity that provides free legal advice, information, and representation to disabled people and their carers across community care, employment, housing, discrimination, public law, and welfare benefits. It also delivers bespoke disability law and Equality Act training to charities and corporates, and operates the WorkRights digital legal information platform for workplace reasonable adjustments.
Is Disability Law Service a public or private company?
Disability Law Service is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Disability Law Service founded?
Disability Law Service was founded in 1975. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Disability Law Service based?
Disability Law Service is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Disability Law Service make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Donations and Fundraising is the primary driver. The others are legal Aid Funding, training Services and trust and Foundation Grants.
Who are Disability Law Service's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Scope, Shelter, Leonard Cheshire, Mind, Mencap and RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People). Direct peers are Disability Rights UK, Law Centres Network, Access Social Care and Citizens Advice.
Does Disability Law Service have an API?
No public API is recorded for Disability Law Service.
What industry is Disability Law Service in?
Disability Law Service's product category is Disability Legal Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAGAEAG, Disability Services & Independent Living Support. Its NAICS code is 62412 and its SIC code is 8111.