Until recently, there has been a lack of good research and information about the levels of need for legal and advice services. Instead we have had to rely on anecdotal evidence or some form of proxy measurement for legal needs.
The report Paths to Justice by Professor Hazel Genn with the National Centre for Social Research, which was published by the Nuffield Foundation in November 1999, was a major breakthrough in this area. The report was based on two main questions: how often do people experience problems which might have a legal solution ('justiciable events') and how do they set about solving them? The survey concentrated on the type of civil problems which people might encounter in their everyday lives, such as family disputes, debt, and housing and employment problems.
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"… if legal advice is obtained or agencies
or other advisers provide positive assistance, the likelihood that
a resolution will be achieved is increased." |
In total, about 40 per cent of all respondents to the survey reported having experienced one or more problems during the previous five years. The types of problems most commonly experienced included money problems (9 per cent); injuries/health problems resulting from accidents/poor working conditions (8 per cent); owning residential property (8 per cent); living in rented accommodation (7 per cent); employment problems (6 per cent); and family/relationship problems (6 per cent). Based on the research, we can estimate that, for example, there are over 6 million adults who have experienced housing problems (disputes with landlords, housing disrepair, mortgage default etc) in the past five years that might have needed a legal solution.
Paths to Justice also showed that the respondents often experienced more than one type of problem. Problem types most commonly found together included employment and money problems, and accommodation and money problems. It therefore suggests that problems tend to come in clusters. By clusters we mean that some people find themselves in situations where there is a cascade effect, in which the emergence of a problem in one area leads to related problems appearing in other areas.
For example, empirical studies of the consequences of divorce have demonstrated the disruption to families caused by the forced sale of the family home, and the frequent poverty and dependence on benefits that affects the lone parent with child care responsibilities after divorce. Other studies of the financial consequences of accidental injury and work-related ill health have shown that many victims suffer financial hardship and have problems with benefits in the immediate aftermath of the injury and not being able to work.
Paths to Justice found that 5 per cent of all respondents failed to take any kind of action to deal with their problem. Based on the research, the size of the group can be estimated at around 2 million adults in England and Wales. The people in this group tended to share the following characteristics:
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"A clear message that emerges from the
study is the profound need for knowledge and advice about obligations,
rights, remedies, and procedures for resolving justiciable problems." |
The main reason given by this group was that the problem was over or that there was nothing that could be done. Those who said this, of course, had not had the benefit of legal advice. The research clearly shows that those people who fall within the commonly understood definitions of socially excluded, are the ones least likely to take any action and seek help to resolve their problems. Many of the identified characteristics overlap with those noted for the people living in poor neighbourhoods in the SEU report Bringing Britain together: a national strategy for neighbourhood renewal published in September 1998.
As a follow-up to findings in Paths to Justice, LCD has commissioned the Legal Services Research Centre to undertake a long-term research project to measure and characterise levels of legal need in England and Wales in the social welfare and family categories of law. The project is called the National Periodic Survey and it is based on a detailed survey of 6-10,000 individuals.
The outcome of the survey will be the first comprehensive, national picture of the extent of unmet legal needs in respect of social welfare and family problems. The survey will be able to show how legal services are helping to tackle social exclusion. One of the Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets for LCD is "increasing the number of people who receive suitable assistance in priority areas of law, involving fundamental rights or social exclusion, by 5% by 2004". The survey will provide evidence to show how this is being achieved.
