The Unmet Legal Need in Lewisham An analysis of residents’ access to timely and affordable legal advice 2 May 2019

Overview Background – Mind the Gap report with the Pro Bono APPG A survey of MPs’ surgeries and existing socioeconomic data Purpose of the report – independent review Hogan Lovells

Methodology MPs’ Surgeries 5 MPs’ surgeries attended (November 17 to February 18) 103 appointments observed Categorisation of problems as legal vs non-legal; sub-categorisation of legal issues Qualitative discussions with caseworkers Hogan Lovells

Methodology Analysis of Existing Data Key socio-economic indicators identified in Ministry of Justice's Legal Problem Resolution Survey 2014 – 2015 as correlated with legal need Analysis of prevalence of these socio- economic indicators in Lewisham vs England and Wales using existing data sets Hogan Lovells

MPs’ surgeries – Legal vs non-legal issues Frequency of legal and non-legal Issues Definition of legal problem: “one for which there might be a legal remedy” No regard to the merits of the legal issue Unweighted base: 115 issues Hogan Lovells

MPs’ surgeries – Legal issues Frequency of categories of legal issues Hogan Lovells

MPs’ surgeries – Housing issues Frequency of categories of housing issues Unweighted base: 20 housing issues Hogan Lovells

MPs’ surgeries – Housing issues Caseworker testimony A lack of housing and disrepair are among the major legal issues arising at surgeries. This is connected to a squeeze on affordable housing in the area. The lack of readily accessible legal advice can mean that constituents lack information about their housing rights and struggle to challenge decisions. Common issues: Landlords’ obligations to repair Evictions and homelessness Challenging allocation and ranking decisions Hogan Lovells

MPs’ surgeries – housing issues Housing case study: Constituent A Renting from housing association 8 year history of disrepair complaints: faulty boiler, leaking pipes, recurrent black mould and a failure to refurbish as promised Mould affecting child’s health. Surveyors instructed; no repair action taken Outcome: no legal referral; MP intervened by writing to the chief executive of the housing association to demand action. Hogan Lovells

Socio-economic data – LPRS – Housing issues Tenure and prevalence of reported legal problems People in rented accommodation more likely to have experienced problems relating to: the home they rent, especially renting from a private landlord (18% vs 15%) personal debt, especially renting from a social landlord (14% vs 10%) anti-social behaviour by neighbours, especially renting from a social landlord (15% vs 12%) Unweighted base: 4,136 Hogan Lovells

Socio-economic data – Housing – Lewisham vs England and Wales Tenure of households Unweighted bases: 116,091 (Lewisham ); 23,366,044 (England and Wales) Hogan Lovells

MPs’ surgeries Other key findings – immigration Frequency of categories of asylum / immigration issues Unweighted base: 23 asylum / immigration issues Hogan Lovells

Socio-economic data Other key findings – further factors Younger people experience more legal problems than older people, especially regarding rented accommodation Lewisham's population is proportionately younger than that of England and Wales Adults from black or minority ethnic backgrounds are more likely to experience legal issues than white adults Lewisham has a higher proportion of adults from these backgrounds than England and Wales Single parent households are more likely to experience civil legal issues relating to money, debt and rented accommodation There are significantly more single parent households in Lewisham than England and Wales Hogan Lovells

MPs’ perspectives Vicky Foxcroft MP Ellie Reeves MP "I am seeing more and more people coming to my surgeries and approaching my office for legal help. There is simply not the legal support we see in other boroughs in Lewisham, when someone needs specialist advice there is just nowhere to signpost constituents. Something desperately needs to change to give my constituents the effective legal representation they need" "There's not nearly enough access to legal advice in Lewisham. There's no law centre, there's nowhere near enough legal aid, so if someone presents as a new case there is little we can do in terms of legal advice. More access to legal advice is desperately needed" Vicky Foxcroft MP Ellie Reeves MP Hogan Lovells

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