Findings from the 2013 civil applicant survey
In Spring 2013 the Scottish Legal Aid Board commissioned a telephone survey of people who had applied for civil legal assistance and used a solicitor working in private practice. This paper presents the findings from that survey.
Why we needed the research
The Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) actively seeks the views of stakeholders, including applicants, opponents, the legal profession, the advice sector and the justice system organisations. Our stakeholder strategy provides a framework for who, when and how we contact. We undertake regular applicant surveys for the purpose of monitoring how effective and easy people find accessing justice and applying for / using legal aid.
The aims of the survey included: measuring satisfaction with SLAB, the profession & the legal system as a whole; identifying problems in accessing justice; exploring how applicants attempt to resolve legal problems and identifying differences in experience between groups of applicants.
The survey will also contribute to the Scottish Government’s User Benefits Toolkit (part of the Making Justice Work Programme), as well as informing other strands of Making Justice Work in which SLAB is involved.
How the research was carried out
The 2013 telephone survey of civil applicants was undertaken during March - April 2013. A telephone survey was chosen, since this was successful in the past. This part of the work was contracted out to a specialist research company. A total of 765 interviews were undertaken with people who had had civil advice & assistance (A&A), had applied for civil legal aid or had dealt with SLAB’s Treasury Department (responsible for collecting money owed to SLAB). The telephone interviews were contracted out to a professional fieldwork company. The anonymised findings were then returned to SLAB’s research team, for analysis and feedback.
Applicants were selected randomly for interview, from those with recent experience and within quotas set by SLAB (for example, a certain number of people who had been refused legal aid). The quotas were very similar to those used in 2009 and the questionnaire used for interview also included many of the questions used in 2009; these measures help us to compare findings over time.
This year the survey included a comprehensive demographics section, which specifically explored whether those in particular demographic groups faced any difficulties in accessing legal aid due to their membership of that group. This will be used to help inform whether SLAB is meeting duties under equalities legislation. The demographic information gathered was also used to compare the experiences of different groups’ responses to key questions, for example satisfaction measures. This will be done to help SLAB identify any specific measures it could take to improve access to legal aid for all eligible applicants.
What the research tells us
Overview
Most respondents (83%) felt that their situation would have been worse without legal aid and were satisfied on key measures around using and understanding legal aid and the legal system. Amongst those who gave a view, 84% were satisfied or neutral regarding ‘overall experience of the full legal process’, 95% with ‘ease of starting to use legal aid’ and 90% with ‘ease of understanding of the whole legal aid system’.
Information gathering & access to legal help
The majority of respondents (88%) went to a private solicitor first for information on their problem, with 5% going first to a Citizen’s Advice Bureau. These results are very similar to those in 2009 and 2007. Those with non-family cases were more likely to contact a CAB first (10% did so), compared with 4% of those with family cases.
Although most respondents had no problems finding a legal aid solicitor, 5% of respondents (41 people) said that they had had problems. This is identical to 2009, and a slight improvement on 2007 when 8% said they had problems.
Views on legal aid processes
Most of those who had direct contact with SLAB were satisfied or neutral with how long it took to get an answer (83%), whether things were explained clearly (89%) and that the response answered their question (85%).
Of those who had to pay a financial contribution during the course of their case, 83% were satisfied or neutral with how clearly SLAB had explained what they might have to pay.
Views on their Solicitor
Overall satisfaction with the solicitor and various aspects of the solicitor service is high, and has not changed significantly since the previous surveys (where comparisons are available). 91% respondents satisfied or neutral with the service provided so far. When asked whether they would use the same solicitor again most people (83%)said that they would. Responses to both these questions were very similar to those received in 2009.
People who said they were given written information by their solicitor at their first meeting were significantly more likely to be satisfied with their solicitor than those who said they had not been given this.
Demographics
The research explored whether respondents felt that anything to do with their demographic characteristics had made it more difficult for them to access legal aid. The characteristics covered were: disability, age, ethnic group, religious affiliation, gender, gender identity and sexual identity.
The responses to the demographic questions suggest that very few respondents felt that their membership of a particular demographic group made it more difficult for them to access legal aid. Those with a disability were most likely to feel that this had made accessing legal help difficult.
Amongst those who said they had a limiting long-standing illness, health problem or disability, 10% (18 people) thought that this had made it difficult to access legal aid. Where this was expanded on, the difficulty was most commonly attributed to ‘physical access (e.g. to buildings or places)’ (three responses) or ‘access to information’ (e.g. problems with reading, writing or comprehension) (three responses). Fewer than 0.5% of respondents thought that they had had difficulty accessing legal aid due to membership of any other demographic group.
How we are using the research
Although most people found a solicitor without problem, some reported that this was a problem for them. More respondents in Edinburgh and Aberdeen than other places in Scotland mentioned having difficulty.This has been fed back to SLAB’s ‘monitoring supply’ project; it supports other evidence in this area and will be used by them. Other findings that relate to supply of solicitors have also been shared with the ‘monitoring supply’ project.
SLAB is reviewing its communication with applicants as part of an on-going commitment to communication, and informed by findings from the survey. Those who were refused legal aid at some point were most likely to be dissatisfied with communication. SLAB is exploring ways in which we can balance simplicity with the need to provide accurate information on reasons for refusal, which often means using specialised terminology that may not be so easy for non-professionals to understand. Providing simplified communications on reasons for refusal might mean that these did not provide a full or technically precise picture.
Findings from the demographics questions all feed into SLAB’s Equalities Monitoring work. They help provide evidence about how we are meeting our duties under equalities legislation, as well as informing future planning and activity.
There was a suggestion, based on a very small sample of respondents, that people who defined themselves as having a disability (or limiting long-term illness) and were involved in a non-family case were more likely to be dissatisfied with their contact with SLAB than either non-disabled people with non-family cases, or disabled people with family cases. SLAB will explore this with appropriate stakeholders. This work should both identify whether there may be a problem and, if there is, explore whether there is anything SLAB could do to help resolve it.
The survey covered various financial aspects of legal aid, such as clawback, opponents’ expenses and additional costs. There were no significant problems apparent; however many of these questions were only relevant to a very small number of respondents. SLAB is considering whether a small programme of on-going research would help to supplement our knowledge of applicants’ experiences in relation to the financial aspects of having civil legal aid.
Information on the use of, and access to, online resources will feed into SLAB’s digital strategy.
Conclusion
The quota of 765 responses to this survey was achieved quickly, despite the fact that the questionnaire was lengthy for a telephone survey. In itself, the fact that people were willing to take part indicates a generally positive feeling towards legal aid. We received some unsolicited positive comments about both solicitors, and the availability of legal aid. These comments showed how people value the work solicitors do and support in accessing justice.
The Demographics section was the first time we have linked problems in accessing legal aid with demographic characteristics in such a structured way. Although this made the section longer than it has been in previous surveys, this approach meant a far more focussed approach to identifying and exploring problems. Repeating this structure in future civil applicant surveys will give us confidence in comparing experiences over time.
Further information
The full findings report for the 2013 civil applicants survey is available on our website.
If you would like further information about this research please contact:
Jo Garrett, Research Unit, Tel. 0131 240 2042 or email: .
Research Briefing published February 2014
Scottish Legal Aid Board, 44 Drumsheugh Gardens, Edinburgh, EH3 7SW
Tel: 0131 226 7061
The Scottish Legal Aid Board 1