A new report published by the Legal Services Board (LSB) is urging those within the legal sector to design services capable of being accessed by everyone.
The report, which is titled ‘Reshaping Legal Services to Meet People’s Needs: An Analysis of Legal Capability’ claims that three out of every five adults have experienced a legal problem in the last four years with over half (53% – 29.8million) having faced a contentious problem. However, over a third do not feel confident that they could personally achieve a fair and positive outcome if faced with a legal problem.
The report states that there is wide variation in legal capability across society. Those with lower legal capability tend to be women, be younger than 55, have a disability that limits daily life, and have lower household incomes (£32,000 or below).
The report concludes that the legal sector needs to do more to take account of the significant variation in legal capability so that services and interventions are designed accordingly. This involves addressing the barriers that currently impede people navigating the journey to resolving legal issues.
The report, which was launched at an event on Monday 24 February 2020 to mark the start of Justice Week 2020 is based on an analysis of findings from the LSB’s Individual Legal Needs Survey which was commissioned jointly by the Legal Services Board and the Law Society.