LawWorks are delighted to be part of making of this survey and report happen. As MPs head back to their constituencies for the forthcoming General Election, its worth reflecting that a key part of their job within constituencies is dealing with constituents' casework - this is an increasingly complex and challenging task in a landscape in which the loss of so much publicly funded assistance (from Legal Aid) has often left MPs as a key port of call for help.
Hogan Lovells-APPG report, Mind the Gap: an assessment of unmet legal need in London, assessed the extent of legal need at 40 MP surgeries across London. MPs from 21 constituencies took part, representing over a third (37%) of London’s 5,266,904 strong electorate. A team of Hogan Lovells volunteers visited the surgeries over two months, during which time they recorded visits by 325 constituents with 352 problems. Of those problems, a staggering 89.5% of problems brought to MPs involved legal or access to justice issues, among them 37% housing issues, 23% immigration issues, and 13% welfare issues.
The report identified a need for:
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Increased funding for Law Centres and CABs and nvestment in legal services in relation to housing advice
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Training for MPs and caseworkers on identifying legal issues, legal aid availability and referral resources
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The development of a comprehensive database of free legal advice sources available to individuals in London that could be of use to caseworkers and constituents
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Public legal education to be more readily accessible and provided to constituents
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Better collaboration between lawyers, MPs and charities.
In introducing the report at a launch event in Parliament on April 19th, Yasmin Waljee, International Pro Bono Director at Hogan Lovells, described from the research how MPs surgeries are becoming "the A&E of legal support." Yasmin said:-
"The findings demonstrate the scale of legal need across London. Some law firms could and should be doing more, but based on our research this doesn't even begin to address the growing and largely unmet need for professional legal advice in London, let alone the rest of the UK. We urgently call for Government to increase funding for specialist advice and to re-think its cuts to legal aid and invest in the sector."
Chair of the APPG on Pro Bono Alex Chalk MP said:
"Many MPs’ offices are seeing more constituents in their surgeries needing legal advice and representation than ever before. Access to justice underpins the rule of law and even a stable society; and fighting to preserve that access has never been more important. Assisting constituents increasingly requires MPs’ offices to have a solid knowledge of the new landscape of legal resources – including the pro bono services which so many practitioners magnificently and selflessly provide.”
- Download a copy of the report -
Mind the gap an assessment of unmet legal need in London