The Solicitors’ Charity’s Big Report has shown an increase in demand for their support with a disproportionately high demand from diverse ethnicities.
The 2024 report has also shown a 33 per cent increase in number of solicitors supported by the organisation and wellbeing support to clients totalling £972,064 after a rising demand for wellbeing support led to more funded referrals.
The rise in demand for the charity’s support with emotional, physical, professional, and financial wellbeing in 2023 led to more funded referrals for all the charity’s partners – LawCare, Onebright, Renovo, Citizens Advice Manchester, and AdviceWorks.
The demographic breakdown also revealed that demand for services was high from those with diverse ethnic backgrounds. Industry data shows that this figure usually represents 18-19% of the solicitor workforce. However, the Solicitors’ Charity reports double this proportion of new clients from different ethnicities.
The Solicitors’ Charity CEO, Nick Gallagher, said:
“We are proud to publish such a positive Big Report this year, reflecting the financial support we have provided over the past year to more than a third more solicitors facing challenges.
“The Big Report shows there is a real demand for our wellbeing services in all four wellbeing pillars – emotional, professional, physical and financial – and we are providing more support than ever before.
“Our clients came from a wide demographic across England and Wales – 66% identified as having some type of disability and over 60% were aged between 30 and 50. This demonstrates that we are helping a large proportion of people in mid-career or when their professional lives are (or should be) in full flow. The biggest stress factors were identified as time pressures, high workload and client demands and the charity has provided wellbeing support to help solicitors with tackling these.
“Now, more than ever, the growing demand for wellbeing support from solicitors and the increase in awards we have made over the past year demonstrates that The Solicitors’ Charity plays a key role in providing all our clients with the help they need to achieve a healthy work-life balance.”
The Solicitors’ Charity funded 324 clients to receive wellbeing support from LawCare, which was almost double the previous year’s number of solicitors, seeking help with bullying and harassment concerns. Onebright was funded to provide mental health assessments and therapy referrals to 28 solicitors and their dependants.
“The support we offer is a real lifeline to the solicitors we help in times of hardship or crisis – it really validates The Solicitors’ Charity as a key safety net for the profession,” says a Case Manager from the Wellbeing & Grants Team.
Career transition counselling was provided to 19 clients by Renovo, with 40% already having secured a new job and others actively searching for work after receiving this targeted support. A further 37 solicitors were helped with money management advice by AdviceWorks and 32 received welfare benefit or debt advice from Citizens Advice Manchester, all with The Solicitors’ Charity funding.
The charity also supported solicitors (and former solicitors) with their physical wellbeing, including funding a specially adapted car for wheelchair transport.
