Almost one in four people in England and Wales live in a “legal aid desert”, according to research published this week highlighting the continuing geographical divide in access to legal advice and representation.
The LexisNexis Legal Aid Deserts Report 2026 finds that 14.49 million people — 23.4% of the population — live in a local authority classed as a legal aid desert in at least one of five areas: housing, family, crime, immigration and employment. In total, 91 local authorities fall into this category.
For practitioners, the figures underline a familiar concern: legal rights have limited practical value where individuals cannot obtain timely professional advice. The problem appears particularly acute in smaller, rural and coastal communities, while London is largely absent from the areas experiencing the most severe shortages.
The consequences extend beyond individual litigants. Kirsty Brimelow KC, Chair of the Bar Council, warned that legal aid deserts restrict access to quality advice at the early stages of proceedings, contributing to poor case management decisions and delays.
The methodology compares indicators of legal need with local provider capacity, adjusted for population and access to providers within a 15km catchment. Authorities falling within the bottom 10% are classified as legal aid deserts.
The findings present a stark rule-of-law issue. If effective access to legal advice is increasingly determined by postcode, addressing provider capacity must remain central to any meaningful discussion about access to justice.
