The Affordable Advice service is for people going through divorce or child care arrangements, who have little or no access to advice. It combines guidance from the Advicenow website with fixed fee legal advice from Resolution family lawyers.
This report reviews the first full year of service. The research is aimed at developing the evidence base on reducing the negative effects of legal problems on litigants in person (LiPs), focusing on early intervention effectiveness.
Key findings
98% of respondents to the survey would recommend the service to others in the same situation.
75% of survey respondents saw it as very good or good value. 50% of survey respondents said they would not have sought legal advice without the service.
Most users who were interviewed reported that the service helped them cope better with the divorce process.
Some users had positive financial outcomes: one interviewee reported that they had obtained a substantial increase in their financial settlement as a result of the legal advice they had received via the Affordable Advice service.
Most users reported positive impact on legal capabilities. 90% of those surveyed reported an increase in confidence and being able to decide to take different approach, 82% reported that the service helped them make their case better.
Most users who replied to the survey were from low-income working households who were ineligible for legal aid but could not afford legal advice.
Issues of coercive control and domestic abuse were identified in some cases, something which might not have been the case if the LiPs in question had not had expert legal advice.
Conclusions and recommendations
The service meets the stated aim of reaching LiPs who otherwise would not have sought legal advice, enabling people who cannot afford advice or representation for their family law issues to get good information and advice at an affordable price. Demand for the service had increased compared to the pilot period.
- The government could provide funding for the service to increase access. The Affordable Advice service should be scaled up and more widely promoted - funding should be sought for this and other developments.
- Government sites and court communications should signpost users to the service.
- Covid-19 had encouraged online help. Remote appointments offered flexibility when making financial or child arrangements in the family courts.
- There is need for more research on the effect of domestic violence and abuse and coercive control on LiPs going through divorce or the dissolution of civil partnerships, and for wider demographic data.
Methodology
This report covered year 2 of the scheme, July 1st 2021 to 20th June 2022, the first full service year of the Affordable Advice service.
The research questions addressed the difference made by the intervention and what could be learned about the service delivery.
A mixed methods approach was taken. Google Analytics was used to analyse the use of family law materials on the Advicenow site, and requests for appointments with a lawyer. This also provided age and gender information.
Service users who requested a meeting with a lawyer were sent a survey asking them about their satisfaction with the service, legal capability, user reach, and affordability. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 15 users online or by phone. The interviews covered why respondents had used the service, its effect on their legal capability and outcomes, and how the legal advice they received through the service had contributed to their confidence and mitigated against stress.
Lawyers on the Affordable Advice panel were asked to collect demographic data on service users.
