From Disparity to Fairness: Enhancing Legal Access in Newham (2024)

The report was produced by Fieldfisher LLP and the Public Law Project on behalf of a Newham-based Steering Group led by the local MP Sir Stephen Timms. The report made the following key findings:

Advice Organisation Issues

Newham advice organisations responding to a survey stated that the top categories of issue they advise on are housing and homelessness, welfare and benefits, and immigration.

Comparison to the UK and London

Newham has a higher demand for immigration and housing advice than the rest of London and the UK. This is in line with public data, which points towards large migrant populations and high levels of deprivation and homelessness within Newham.

Key Categories of Caseworker Issues

From our observations, legal issues, particularly those relating to housing and immigration, dominate constituent appointments. Out of 111 legal issues observed, 47% were housing-related and 17% were immigration-related. The main issues were:

Services in Newham

A preliminary survey of local advice organisations tallied the number of organisations providing advice. Welfare and Benefits advice is the most significant in the borough (24%), closely followed by Housing and Homelessness (22%) and then Immigration (17%).

Cost-of-Living Crisis Impact

The cost-of-living crisis has exacerbated difficulties in affording essentials like food and housing. Citizens Advice witnessed a record demand for crisis support in January 2024, with ethnic minorities being disproportionately affected.

Caseworker Experiences

77% of the issues presented at constituent appointments were of a legal nature. All caseworkers interviewed stated they had concerns about the availability of free or affordable legal services in the area.

Advice Organisations

When asked, 90% of responding advice organisations stated that they cannot meet the demand for legal advice, with 70% stating "a lot of help is needed". No organisation reported being able to easily meet this demand. Whilst the provision of advice in housing and homelessness and immigration is much higher in Newham than in other areas of law, advice organisations are still unable to meet demand.

Referral Rates

There are high referral rates in Newham, with nearly 50% of organisations "very often" referring cases. Most referrals are "signpost" referrals, where no work is carried out prior to referral, likely due to a lack of capacity. Some organisations are hesitant to refer because of the strain on other local advice providers.

Low Uptake

Our research indicates a low uptake of referrals in Newham, likely due to a lack of capacity. One advice organisation commented on the inability for complex cases to be dealt with appropriately, indicating a potential service gap. Low uptake rates lead to "referral fatigue", where individuals stop seeking help after going between multiple organisations.

Confidence in Referrals

Confidence from advice organisations in the referral process is low. Caseworkers rely on charities and organisations for complex cases but are concerned about their capacity. There is poor communication and awareness of capacity between organisations and caseworkers, which means that referrals are likely not going to the correct place.

A wide range of other research conducted by Justice Together, Hogan Lovells and Newham Community Law Project reveals even more evidence of deprivation in Newham and in London more generally:

Homelessness in Newham

1 in 21 people are homeless in Newham (Shelter, 2023), compared to the London average of 1 in 58 people. The actual number is likely to be higher due to some forms of homelessness, like sofa-surfing, being undocumented. The number of people living in temporary accommodation has risen by 74% in the last 10 years due to the shortage of social housing and over-reliance on private renting (as per Shelter). The evictions/repossessions per 1,000 households in Newham are 4.46, compared to the London average of 0.74.

From the Trust for London

Newham's deprivation is significantly worse than in other London boroughs based on various metrics:

Demand for Immigration Advice

Newham Council's public health team is worried about the increasing number of asylum seekers and the lack of immigration advice provision. Local organisations, including Praxis and the Refugee and Migrant Forum of Essex & London (RAMFEL), told us that the demand for immigration advice is too high.

The Refugee Council's 2021 Report on Asylum Seekers

English language - Generally, asylum seekers have very poor written and speaking skills, exacerbated by being unable to read or find advice about English courses. More women than men indicated that a lack of childcare was a barrier to learning English.

Health - 54% of asylum seekers who declared experiencing a mental health issue reported that they had not accessed any treatment.

Impact of COVID-19 - There was limited access to information online or by phone due to language barriers.

Housing - Accommodation was in poor condition and did not meet privacy needs.

Employment - Over 59% of surveyed asylum seekers were unemployed. 47% of women and 38% of men were unemployed, with 37% saying that not having the right to work was the main barrier. Migrant workers had to deal with low pay, often below minimum wage, a lack of employment rights (holidays, sick and maternity pay), expensive housing costs, the risk of exploitation, debt, poor mental health, domestic violence, malnutrition and drug addiction, exacerbated by a lack of disposable income.

Justice Together, A Huge Gulf: Demand and Supply for Immigration Legal Advice in London (June 2021)

The demand for immigration legal advice far exceeds capacity.

Supply and demand - London has around 4,300 adult asylum seekers, 1,235 unaccompanied child asylum seekers, 397,000 undocumented persons (238,000 are likely able to regularise this), 2,276 victims of trafficking or modern slavery, 774,000 have EUSS pre-settled status, and there are up to 1,702 people in immigration detention in centres in or around London.

Advice - Advice is easier to obtain than casework, but even in London's large and complex advice network, organisations often get "lost" and do not have effective referral pathways.

Outreach - There is a need for different entry points for advice, both drop-in and outreach. Organisations need to network better and strategically share data by building trust and relationships.

Funding - Short-term funding awards create difficulties, as immigration casework tends to be long-term and cannot be accommodated in a few months. More open-access funding is needed, with more funding for advisers above Immigration Advice Authority (IAA) L1, and a renewed focus on maintaining existing projects.

Free advice maps - Newham has five legal aid-funded organisations, two IAA L1 and two IAA L2 offices, yet no IAA L3 offices.

All-Party Parliamentary Group on Pro Bono and Hogan Lovells, Mind the gap: an assessment of unmet legal need in London: A Survey of MPs' Surgeries Oct-Nov 2016 (April 2017)

The most common areas of legal concern were as follows:

Housing - 37% (~25% involved disability)

Immigration - 23%

Welfare and benefits - 13%

Statistics - Immigration issues often require long-term specialist legal support that MPs cannot provide. LawWorks' network of independent clinics has seen a 95% increase in demand for pro bono legal advice, including a 45% increase in immigration and asylum issues.