Nearly a quarter of the population of England and Wales lives in an area classed as a ‘legal aid desert’, new research reveals.
Analysis of local authority data by LexisNexis suggests that 14.49 million people, or 23% of the population, live in an area with a high need for legal aid and limited access to support.
The Legal Aid Deserts report, published today, compares indicators of legal need with legal aid provider capacity, finding 91 local authorities were ‘legal aid deserts’ in at least one of five areas: housing, family, crime, immigration and employment.
It found that 6.6 million people live in housing legal aid deserts, 4.2 million live in family legal aid deserts, 3.6 million live in crime legal aid deserts, 4.6 million live in immigration legal aid deserts, and 4.1 million live in employment legal aid deserts.
The research found 37 local authorities, with a combined population of more than five million, fall into the lowest-scoring category in two or more areas. The eight local authorities with the weakest provision highlighted by the report are Babergh, Breckland, Derbyshire Dales, East Cambridgeshire, East Devon, Rutland, South Norfolk and West Berkshire.
The weakest-performing authorities are concentrated most heavily in the East of England, the East Midlands and parts of the South East, with further pressure points in the South West.
Kirsty Brimelow KC, chair of the Bar Council of England and Wales, said: “Legal aid is a vital part of the justice system, meant to ensure that everyone receives the support they need to access justice, regardless of their financial situation. It provides equality of arms between parties trying to resolve their disputes and enables citizens to exercise their rights through the courts.
“Legal aid deserts reduce access to good quality legal advice at the early stages of proceedings, which in turn causes poor case management decisions and delays to both the case and its resolution.”
Jasmine Basran, head of policy and campaigns at homelessness charity Crisis, said: “Being able to access housing legal aid can be the turning point that helps someone out of homelessness or helps them avoid it altogether.”
She added: “This report provides a critical update on legal aid across England and Wales. Even where housing legal aid exists, far too often it’s out of reach.”
The first Legal Aid Deserts report was published by LexisNexis in 2022. Seven of the 15 weakest-access housing local authorities and eight of the 15 weakest-access crime areas from 2022 remain ‘deserts’ today, the update reveals.
Josh Giddens, executive sponsor of Rule of Law at LexisNexis, said: “Four years on from our first analysis, many of the areas we identified as legal aid deserts in 2022 haven’t recovered.
“Access to legal representation shouldn’t depend on where you live, how much you earn, or how far you can travel to find help. When that access doesn’t improve for years at a time, the rule of law itself is weaker for it and that gap becomes a pattern.”
The report’s findings suggest that the sharpest access gaps are often concentrated in smaller, rural, coastal and semi-rural authorities, where provider capacity appears limited relative to legal need.
Researchers drew on public data on legal aid provider locations, population, local authority geography and area-specific indicators of legal need across housing, family, crime, immigration and employment. For each practice area, the model compares estimated legal need with local legal aid provider capacity, adjusted for population, and applies a 15 km catchment rule to reflect nearby access to support. Local authorities in the bottom 10% of the resulting access measure are classified as legal aid deserts.
