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Main Findings

• The survey found that 29% of the general population in Glasgow West had experienced a justiciable problem between 1998 and 2003.
• People with a justiciable problem in Glasgow West were more likely to be living in rented accommodation, in receipt of income support, have children at home, unemployed and living in the G15 postcode area than people without a justiciable problem.
• Neighbourhood disputes, in the form of anti-social behaviour, were reported most frequently (19%), followed by problems with housing (6%), followed by problems to be with faulty goods or services (6%) and benefits (5%).
• A vast majority of respondents (82%) said they had experienced only a single problem in the previous 5 years.
• 47% of people who reported a justiciable problem in Glasgow West sought advice from a third party. People who did seek advice were most likely to seek help for, injury due to an accident, divorce or separation and for medical negligence. They were least likely to seek advice for benefit problems and faulty goods and services. Minority ethnic respondents sought advice more frequently than the non minority ethnic sample.
• People were most likely to approach the local council for advice followed by the police. However, the nature of the problem had an impact on the type of agency approached for advice. People with housing and neighbour problems were more likely to contact the local council whereas people with problems relating to divorce or separation were more likely to approach solicitors.
• Most people who approached Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB) or solicitors for advice indicated that they were successful in obtaining the advice they were looking for (91% and 74% respectively). In contrast, only 48% of people who approached the council said they were successful in eliciting helpful advice.
• A proxy model was developed to estimate the relative prevalence of justiciable problems in Glasgow West compared with 3 other areas. According to this model, Glasgow West recorded the highest prevalence for welfare benefit problems and the lowest prevalence for problems with faulty goods and services.

Introduction

In November 2001 the "Review of Legal Information and Advice Provision in Scotland" was published. This report examined how local provision of legal services could be improved, developed and structured. The Working Group that produced the report did not propose a blue-print for community legal service provision, but instead focused on a number of recommendations for further work, including a comprehensive exercise to assess need for legal advice services.

A key proposal was to replicate the needs assessment in a range of areas to explore the impact of local differences in population size, existing provision and demographic profile on the levels or nature of need for legal advice. Consequently needs assessment was conducted in the 4 pilot partnership areas: Glasgow West, Argyll & Bute, Edinburgh and Fife.

The focus of this paper is on the findings of the needs assessment exercise in the Glasgow West area. Research Findings are also available for Argyll & Bute, Fife and Edinburgh. An overview Research Finding describing the aims, methods and conclusions of the whole study is also available.

Methods

A community survey was administered to a random sample of the population in Glasgow West. To ensure a sufficient sample size was obtained, a target sample of 400 people with at least one legal problem over a 5 year period was achieved. In total, 1,399 people were surveyed. The survey captures 13 categories of 'justiciable problem' ranging from immigration to housing problems, family problems to money and benefit problems. The survey also describes whether people sought help or advice for their problems and whether people were satisfied with the help they received. A boosted sample (100) of minority ethnic respondents was also interviewed.

The questionnaire took 25 minutes to complete. A proxy model was also developed using the survey data to estimate the nature and level of legal problems in the Glasgow West area. The key findings were subsequently discussed with key stakeholders. Discussions focused on whether the data generated by these methods would be helpful in future planning and included representatives from statutory, voluntary and private sector provider organisations.

Prevalence of legal problems in Glasgow West

Results showed that 29% of people surveyed in Glasgow West reported at least one justiciable problem over a 5 year period between 1998 and 2003.

Neighbourhood disputes in the form of anti-social behaviour emerged as the most common problem in Glasgow West (reported by 19% of people interviewed). However, prevalence rates were found to be higher among particular sectors of the local population. Neighbourhood disputes were most prevalent among the over 45's, and those living in G13 or G15 postcode areas.

The second most prevalent problem was problems to with housing (6%) followed by problems to be with faulty goods or services (6%) and benefits (5%).

Most people (82%) only reported a single problem over the 5 year period. For those with more than one problem, neighbourhood disputes, housing problems, being a victim of crime and money problems tended to cluster together.

Advice seeking behaviour

A key component of the study was to explore whether people had taken any action to resolve their problems. Respondents were asked whether they sought help or advice, which sources they approached and whether they had been successful in obtaining advice. Those who did not seek advice were asked to give reasons why they chose not to approach a third party.

47% of people interviewed in Glasgow West said they had sought help for their problems. The main reasons given for not seeking help were that 'the problem was already resolved' and 'I did not think anything could be done'.

What people did about their problems seemed to be influenced by the type of problem experienced. Overall, advice was most likely to be sought for problems relating to divorce/separation and children, injury due to an accident and medical negligence. People were least likely to seek advice for benefit problems or faulty goods and services.

Further, respondents aged between 16-24 years old, were less likely to seek help than any other age group.

Overall, a much higher proportion of minority ethnic respondents (72%) had sought help for their problems than the non minority-ethnic sample.

Advice-seekers were found to approach statutory organisations such as the local council more frequently than private solicitors or voluntary sector organisations. Motivation for contacting the council and the police was often related to the perception that these organisations had 'the power to take action'.

To some extent, it appears that gender, age and the nature of the problem itself also had an impact on the type of agency approached for advice. Findings showed that more female respondents than males had approached the local council for advice. Conversely, more males had approached a solicitor or lawyer for advice than females. Further, respondents over the age of 55 years were more likely to have contacted the police than younger respondents. Respondents with neighbour problems or housing problems were more likely to approach the local council for advice (37% and 52% respectively), whereas 58% of respondents with divorce or separation problems had approached a solicitor.

Success in obtaining advice

Over, 62% of people who had sought advice perceived they had been successful in obtaining the advice they were looking for. However, on closer inspection, it is clear that perceived success rates varied from source to source. The local council were perceived to be the least helpful agency in terms of obtaining the type of advice people were looking for. 48% of people approaching their local council for advice said they were successful, whereas perceived success rates were considerably more favourable for Law Centres (75%), CAB (91%), the police (57%), doctors (75%) and solicitors (74%).

A large proportion (40%) of respondents who had contacted the local council said they had not received any advice about their problem. In contrast, only 18% of those contacting CAB, 27% contacting the police and 31% who contacted solicitors said that the source provided no advice or help.

Mapping need in Glasgow West using proxy-based models

This part of the research focused on testing existing proxy models that have been widely used across the UK to estimate legal need. Proxy models use routinely collected data as indicators to estimate the levels and nature of problems within a given population. Of all existing models, the CLS small area needs models were found to be the most valid. Consequently, the CLS models for employment, debt, welfare benefits and housing were tested in the Glasgow West area. The models were used to estimate the relative number of problems in Glasgow West compared with other partnership areas and could also estimate problem prevalence at ward level.

The CLS models showed that Glasgow West had the highest score for benefits, debt and housing problems when compared with all four areas. Glasgow West showed the lowest score for employment problems. Within Glasgow West, housing problems were found to be particularly high in Hillhead, Partick, Hyndland and Hayburn. For both debt and welfare problems, Drumry, Summerhill, Knightswood South and Knightswood Park all have the highest numbers of problems.

Although scores for the whole of Glasgow West were able to be constructed and mapped at ward level, there were several problems with this model. First, it was not possible to replicate the models exactly since some of the equivalent indicators were not available for Glasgow West. Second, there was no way of assessing the relative levels of need arising from different sources, e.g. employment need relative to welfare need, because they are measured on different scales. Third, the conceptual framework for the model is based on existing categories of social welfare law rather than empirically drawn from the patterns of need itself. To rectify these difficulties, survey data relating to prevalence and demographics collected by mruk were used to develop a new empirically-based proxy measure. The new model found that Glasgow West had the smallest percentage of problems relating to faulty goods and services, but the highest number of problems relating to welfare benefits.

The proxy model could also identify particular postcode districts in Glasgow West which appeared to elicit particularly high or particularly low levels of problem reporting above and beyond the factors included in the model. In Glasgow West, postcode G12 was found to elicit particularly low levels of problem reporting. Elucidation of these findings requires further local knowledge - this was the role of the pilot partnership.

Group discussions

An important component of this study was to elicit the views of service providers on how outputs from the survey and the proxy could be utilised in a future service planning process.

Most providers recognised the value of utilising research evidence in planning. However, it was clear that some providers found it difficult to comment on the findings for the whole area as their experience of providing advice tended to be concentrated in smaller areas within Glasgow West. Further, most providers dealt with specific areas of law such as housing issues or debt issues. As a consequence some providers felt that survey prevalence levels seemed lower than they expected from their own experience. This view was most frequently expressed by providers who supply advice on debt and benefit.

Some participants challenged the reliability of respondents' ability to judge how important particular problem is likely to be, and questioned whether people played down the importance of some problems. Participants accepted the level of advice seeking found in Glasgow West. Many providers suggested that people were apathetic about seeking help, preferring to 'bury their head in the sand' than seek advice.

Although some participants raised concerns about the reliability of the indicators used in the CLS proxy models, participants felt that both methods were potentially valuable and had enhanced participants' understanding of need in Glasgow West. Overall, in spite of some initial reservations about the findings, many providers were positive about the utility of the research in the future planning exercise.

Footnote

1. A justiciable problem is defined as a problem which raised a legal issue, whether or not it was recognised as legal by the respondent, and whether or not any action taken by the respondent involved any part of the civil justice system. These categories are based on pre-defined categories of law.