Firms are continuing to abandon civil legal aid work, with 1,236 firms contracted with the Legal Aid Agency this year, compared to 1,320 last year and 1,500 in 2019-20
There are now 20 areas without any housing legal aid providers, despite the number of households in temporary accommodation rising 12.3% in the past year to 117,450.
Law Society president Richard Atkinson said: ‘We know many housing legal aid providers are making the difficult decision to exit the market, as they have been pushed to work grossly excessive working hours to support their clients and are unable to run a viable business.’
