Legal aid contracting has left vulnerable people combating domestic violence and homelessness without legal advice because it has caused solicitors to leave the system, the charity Citizens Advice warned last week.

Reports based on surveys of 200 Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB) said clients seeking urgent legal remedies such as injunctions against perpetrators of domestic violence and court orders preventing evictions had been left in the lurch, owing to a drop in both housing and family solicitors from 11,000 to less than 4,500.

Citizens Advice social policy officer James Sandbach said legal aid lawyers were fed up with bureaucracy associated with contracting and lack of funding, which was driving law firms to take on more private work.

He called for multi-disciplinary partnerships for family lawyers, specialist housing advice centres, and student loans for new entrants.

A Legal Services Commission (LSC) spokesman argued that the reports painted an inaccurate picture because it was increasing contracts and matter starts in areas where there was a shortage.

'Not only do we disagree with CAB on the causes and location of advice gaps, we also disagree that little or nothing is being done to address these gaps,' he said.

But Legal Aid Practitioners Group director Richard Miller said the reports backed evidence that clients cannot get the advice they need.

'These clients do not contact the LSC, their MPs or anyone else in authority when they cannot get help, and therefore do not show up in any official statistics,' he warned.

Paula Rohan