Overwhelming Public Support For Legal Aid

On the anniversary of the government’s review of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO), a Law Society survey has shown an overwhelming public support of legal aid. 

Funding for domestic abuse cases and unfair police treatment received the highest public backing. 

The survey was conducted by YouGov on behalf of the Law Society and the Legal Services Board, and took responses from 28,633 members of the general public, regarding 34 different legal issues. 

With almost a third of adults (64%) experiencing legal issues in the last 4 years, with 53% facing contentious problems, the survey highlighted the need for access to legal advice for the public, as well as the effects of not seeking legal advice. 

The survey found: 

• Respondents who received professional help were also more likely to feel they had a fair outcome (66% compared to 53% who didn’t receive professional help). 
• People were more likely to seek professional help if they understood their issue was legal in nature – just 16% of people described their contentious legal issue as ‘legal’, with 28% describing it as ‘economic’ or ‘financial’. 
• People with low legal confidence have lower understanding of their rights, find it less easy to deal with their legal issue, are less likely to get professional help, are less satisfied with the service they receive and less likely to think they had a fair outcome. 
• People are most satisfied with the service they receive from solicitors (90%) compared to 74% from unregulated providers. 84% felt their solicitor provided value for money. 
• The majority (57%) of people who obtained professional help from a main adviser did not personally pay for it – of those, 49% obtained advice through a free service, 7% were funded by an insurance company and another 7% by friends and family. 
• Only 21% who received professional advice shopped around. People said they didn’t shop around because they were happy with the first service they found (33%), trust a recommendation (28%) or find the matter fairly simple (22%). 
• 24% reported difficulty searching for prices; 84% find it easy to obtain prices when they look for this information. People who get information about prices, when initially communicating with their main adviser, are more likely to be satisfied (94%) than those who don’t (82%). 
• 92% of adults believe legal aid is a good thing. 85% of people with a household income below the legal aid means test threshold did not think they were eligible for legal aid. 
• The most commonly experienced legal issues relate to a defective good/service (26%), anti-social behaviour by neighbours (14%), buying or selling property (11%), making or changing a will (11%) and employment-related issues (11%). 

The Law Society of England and Wales’ president, Simon Davis; 

“LASPO had a devastating impact on people’s ability to access justice – with thousands of people rendered ineligible for legal aid overnight. The range of legal issues which qualified for legal aid was cut drastically. Early advice was particularly hard hit and the “exceptional case funding” safety net has not worked. 

“To make matters worse, the means test has not been adjusted for inflation since 2009, meaning that every year, fewer people are financially eligible for legal aid. This has led to a huge influx of people navigating the justice system unrepresented – with no legal advice to help them enforce their rights. Many more people simply give up and live with injustice, which has a corrosive effect on people’s belief in the rule of law. The Ministry of Justice’s recognition of these problems in their post-implementation review of LASPO was welcome. One year on from the LASPO review, the government must follow through on their commitment to reassess the availability of legal aid and give the public the access to justice they so clearly support.” 

The Legal Services Board Chair Dr Helen Phillips said: 

“People often need legal services at the most important times of life, and sometimes when they are at their most vulnerable. Whether they’re buying, selling or renting property, seeking redress following a poor service, or a victim of crime, everyone should be able to access professional support if they need it. 

“However, this survey reveals a significant access to justice gap. For a variety of reasons people do not always seek legal advice. Many fail to identify the issues they face as being legal in nature. They perhaps class it as a housing issue or a financial problem or put it down to bad luck. This means they then don’t seek for the right kind of help. 

“Those who get legal support are more likely to be satisfied with the outcome, so it’s vital we remove barriers that prevent people accessing help. This includes building legal capability and encouraging people to shop around for services. When people understand their legal rights and responsibilities, it makes a real difference to their confidence and their ability to access justice.”