Reading time: four minutes

During a particularly difficult business law seminar one day, a peer of mine sat next to me, engrossed in his laptop. It wasn't that seminar's corporation tax calculation that had captured his attention, but, instead, the Law Society's legal aid desert maps, which he was exploring on its website – and to which he introduced me.

In this article, I'll be exploring legal aid deserts as per the Law Society's most recent report – as well as what we can do to help meet the ever-increasing demand for legal aid.

What are legal aid deserts?

Legal aid deserts, as the name suggests, are areas in which the demand for legal services outweighs the supply.

These aptly-named deserts came about as a result of many factors:

• Funding cuts to legal aid, which have disproportionately impacted smaller firms or those in more rural areas.
• Limitations on the applicability of legal aid, which have reduced the number of cases that may fall under its scope.
• Legal aid fees, which have remained unchanged since 1996 (nearly 30 years) and were cut by 10% in 2011, making it challenging for legal aid providers to sustainably continue to deliver their services at such low rates. It's worth noting, however, that as of November 2024, the Lord Chancellor announced a minimum 10% uplift in legal aid rates for housing and immigration - with other areas soon to follow.
• Unequal availability of legal services in rural versus urban areas, which often mean that vulnerable communities in rural areas are more likely to face shortages and challenges than their urban counterparts.

Upon further exploration, I found a report published on the subject, which intended to identify the greatest areas of need (determined by comparing the number of legal issues in a local area to the number of legal aid providers). In this article, I'll be focusing on the areas mentioned in the report – housing, family and crime – but it's worth noting that the Law Society maps focus on other underfunded areas too – such as immigration and asylum, education and welfare and benefits. It's worth checking them out if those areas interest you.

Housing

According to the report:

• 12.45 million people live in legal aid deserts for housing; and
• the housing legal deserts in the bottom 10% had zero providers per 1,000 incidents.

The regions with the most legal aid deserts for housing include the East of England, the South East and the South West.

Family

The data showed that:

• 1.09 million people live in legal aid deserts for family;
• the top five best served local authorities have 14.43 providers per 1000 incidents; and
• those in the bottom 10% had zero providers per 1000 incidents.

The regions with the most legal aid deserts for family include the South East and the East Midlands.

It's worth flagging that family is a less publicised area of law than housing and crime, which means that there may have been more cases that went by unreported and, as such, unincluded in the report.

Moreover, even among the providers included in the report, there's no differentiation between those that offer more niche services. In other words, just because there's a family legal aid provider providing aid for children in care, doesn't mean that it’ll meet the needs of someone with a different issue (eg, domestic violence or divorce). Even with the minimal demand available, the reality is that family legal aid may be even more sparse than it seems.

Crime

Figures showed that:

• 2.12 million people live in legal aid deserts for crime;
• there are only 0.89 providers per 1,000 incidents in the five best served local authorities; and
• the crime legal deserts in the bottom 10% had zero providers per 1,000 incidents.

The regions with the most legal aid deserts for crime include the South West, the South East and the East of England.

Change on the horizon: do we need a legal aid oasis?

Much of what legal aid once offered has, in recent years, been replaced by pro bono services offered by lawyers. Though this may be a start, and is certainly better than nothing, it’s no remedy for a system that needs reform.

A number of recommendations have been made by the Law Society moving forward, including:

• designing an evidence base to more accurately monitor demand for legal aid services;
• simplifying the auditing and administrative process for legal aid providers – a feature of the legal aid process that often eats up much-needed time better spent elsewhere; and
• reviewing fee structures and improving funding (as noted, there was a recent uplift in fees for housing and immigration – with more changes to other areas to follow).

The issues facing legal aid are twofold: existing both on the side of the recipient client who lacks access and understanding; and on the side of the provider who lacks funding and support. As urgently as change is needed, both planning and monitoring are also required to ensure that the change actually impacts those it intends to reach. Sustainability, above all, should be the goal.

The solution isn’t so much a legal aid oasis as it’s consistent, gradual bouts of legal aid rainfall.