The Law Society has published a heat map of Britain highlighting the areas of country that are poorly served for legal aid.
The map reveals that nearly one-third of counties in England and Wales have one or fewer firms who provide housing advice which is available through legal aid.
Shropshire, Surrey and Suffolk are particularly poorly served, with no providers at all.
The UK’s major cities are generally well catered for, but several significant urban areas – notably Teesside and much of Lancashire including Blackburn, Burnley, St Helens and Wigan – are not.
The Law Society called on the government set up an independent review into the sustainability of the civil legal aid system and to seek to commission a second provider in areas that currently only have one.
The number of applications for help received by the Bar Pro Bono Unit has almost doubled since cuts to legal aid were brought in by the coalition government.
Last September, Jeremy Corbyn appointed the former Shadow Attorney General Lord Bach, to lead a review of legal aid.
Even a cursory view of the distribution map shows that overwhelming the majority of areas with little or no access to legal aid for specialist housing matters are in areas which are low-wage economies. Most suffer complex problems eg high proportions of week-end/holiday homes which raises local property prices and reduces long-term rental properties: shortages of social housing or affordable private rental property: higher than average dependence on low-wage seasonal employment: sparse & expensive public transport to access further education, jobs & services etc., etc. These and many more factors leave many in these areas, particularly the working poor at great risk. It also seems likely that the financial burden of current political policy will continue to impact inequitably on these areas.