Consumers at risk of disadvantage

People often purchase legal services at times of stress. Therefore, no matter how experienced a consumer may be, their individual circumstances may make them vulnerable. A range of factors, including physical and mental ability, language skills, financial constraints, or other personal situations, can directly contribute to a consumers being at risk of disadvantage. If legal service providers can not understand and respond appropriately, people may not access the legal services that they need.

There is a lack of data on how different circumstances affect access to legal services. To help address this situation, the Panel will partner with a range of organisations to explore how different groups of consumers experience legal services, focussing on three main themes:
• What circumstances contribute to members of a specific consumer group being at risk of disadvantage.
• Whether the needs of the above group are being met
• If not, what practical steps could be taken by the profession and regulators to improve the situation.

The first pilot study focused on consumers with hearing loss and we have partnered with Action on Hearing Loss (formerly RNID) and the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The pilot project involvef three elements:
• Intelligence gathering from literature and representative organisations
• Interviews with key stakeholders
• Consumer research

In October 2011, the Deaf Studies Trust was commissioned to undertake the consumer research (the research specification can be found below). Its independent research report can be found below. As a result of the research, the Panel has written to the Equality and Human Rights Commission to urge them to clarify who should pay for sign language interpreter services when clients are not funded through legal aid.

Key Documents

Date	Title	Description
29 March 2012	Legal Choices - Silent Process (pdf, 668kb)	Independent research by the Deaf Studies Trust on the experiences of deaf and hard of hearing consumers of legal services
27 March 2012	Letter to Equality and Human Rights Commission (pdf, 97kb)	Letter from the Panel Chair to the Equality and Human Rights Commission about who should pay for sign language interpreter services
4 November 2011	Understanding the needs of legal services consumers with hearing loss (pdf, 311kb)	Specification for cosnumer research about the experiences of deaf and hard of hearing people when obtaining legal services