The Law Society has published interactive maps detailing the extent of the problem, with people living in areas without a major city particularly badly hit. The south west, north east and north west are bereft in almost all legal and local authority areas, and Wales has sparse coverage.
Law Society president I Stephanie Boyce said: ‘Our analysis shows people on lower incomes who face terrifying legal issues from domestic abuse to homelessness or who need to challenge inadequate care or education from their local authority increasingly can’t get the expert legal advice to which they are entitled.’
Many cases that could be resolved through early intervention were spiralling unnecessarily, she said, evictions were on the rise yet 23 million people lived in a local authority without a single housing legal aid service. View the maps at: www.lawsociety.org.uk/campaigns/legal-aid-deserts.
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