Results of the 2007 English and Welsh Civil and Social Justice Survey

The Legal Services Research Centre has published a report on the results of the 2007 survey.
 
3658 people were interviewed for the survey and 36% of respondents reported having a civil justice or rights problem, the same figure as in 2006.
 
Incidence
 
There was an increase in the incidence of consumer and money/debt problems and a decrease in neighbour and rented housing problems.
 
As in previous surveys, incidence of problems was not randomly distributed across the survey group: lone parents, those on benefits, those who have a long-term illness or disability and victims of crime report problems more often than others.
 
Impact of problems
 
Civil justice problems were again found to have other adverse consequences such as stress-related illness, physical ill health and loss of income. Over four-fifths of those who suffered physical and stress-related ill health visited a GP, hospital or health worker as a direct result of their problem(s).
 
Interestingly, those respondents eligible for legal aid reported more negative consequences of problems. 38% of respondents eligible for legal aid reported stress-related ill health as a consequence of their problem compared to 23% of other respondents.
 
The full report - Report of the 2007 English and Welsh Civil and Social Justice Survey