Half of Legal Aid Housing Advice Unused Despite Rising Evictions

Just half of face-to-face housing advice available on legal aid was used last year despite soaring repossessions. Data show that the government paid for face-to-face legal help in 34,817 cases. This was just 55% of what the government had provided for.  In some areas as little as 11% of the available help was used. This is despite a five year-high in landlord repossessions. The government has responded by cutting legal aid advice for the current year by almost a fifth, citing “a decrease in client demand”.  But the investigation suggests that there are several reasons why people are not taking up the advice available: they are confused over what advice is still funded, there is a smaller pool of organisations providing such advice and an increasing number of areas with few or no legal aid lawyers.  Read more on the Bureau of Investigative Journalism website.