To what extent does the legal aid system adequately meet the needs of individuals with different protected characteristics?

Background

The rule of law describes the fundamental principles underpinning a functioning democracy. MOJ’s objective is to uphold the rule of law domestically and internationally, and promote the impact of legal services to support UK prosperity. We want to improve our understanding of the economic impact of the legal services sector, the challenges facing the legal profession and the opportunities offered by innovations in legal technology.

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Related UKRI funded projects


  • Affordable Legal Advice

    "Advice agencies, support providers, clearinghouses and public legal education providers all exist to help people when they need support to solve their legal problems. However, accessing this complex network of supp...

    Funded by: ISCF

    Lead research organisation: ETIC LAB LLP

    Why might this be relevant?

    Partially relevant as it focuses on improving access to legal advice but does not specifically address the needs of individuals with different protected characteristics.

  • Social Welfare and Immigration Legal Aid: Mapping need, provision and accessibility

    Legal advice is vital to accessing asylum or immigration status and many social and welfare rights such as housing, welfare benefits, and community care. Yet access to legal advice has been affected by legal aid changes ...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Sussex

    Why might this be relevant?

    Fully relevant as it specifically examines access to legal advice for individuals with different protected characteristics in the SWILA sector.

  • Legal Utopia Engine

    This project seeks to implement successful research development outputs undertaken in 2018 and 2019 to establish a commercial application to benefit the lower-means demographic of legal consumers in need of legal support...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

    Lead research organisation: LEGAL UTOPIA LIMITED

    Why might this be relevant?

    Partially relevant as it aims to provide legal support to the lower-means demographic but does not focus on individuals with different protected characteristics.

  • Scaling GenAI-powered case assessments to transform access to justice for marginalised communities in the UK

    Every year, 8.6M UK adults face a legal issue, but two-thirds have to choose between poverty or legal representation (Legal Services Board, 2020) (Cardiff University, 2021). With many turning to self-representation, Vall...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

    Lead research organisation: VALLA LTD

  • Droughts and Deserts: immigration legal aid in UK social policy

    High quality, free legal advice is critical for ensuring that people seeking asylum receive the protection they need; there is also a public interest in ensuring that any public service is cost-effective and of adequate ...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Brighton

  • Global Access to Justice via AI & Community

    The vision for the project between LegalBeagles Group Ltd (LBGroup) and IBM UK Ltd (IBM) is to provide easy access to legal answers via quality, community guidance supported by technology, which will analyse and scale kn...

    Funded by: ISCF

    Lead research organisation: LEGALBEAGLES GROUP LTD

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project aims to provide easy access to legal answers via technology, addressing the challenges of access to justice and legal support.