As part of its access to justice work, the Law Society has launched a new campaign to tackle housing legal aid deserts - areas with only one, or no, provider of housing legal aid advice.  Almost one third of areas in England and Wales are legal aid deserts.

One provider per area is not enough - legal aid areas are often large, such as Cornwall or Somerset, and people often cannot afford to see the one provider which may be located many miles from where they live.

The Society has developed a legal aid deserts heat map which highlights which areas of England and Wales experience the greatest shortages, available here.

The Society is calling for the government to urgently address this situation by doing the following:

• commission an independent review of legal aid contracting arrangements
• commission a second provider in areas that currently only have one

The Society will be campaigning on this issue over a number of months. They would like you to spread the word on social media (by tweeting to #legalaiddeserts), help identify case studies, and write to your local MP. For more information, please contact their campaigns manager Vicki Butler.