HEREFORDSHIRE has been one of the many areas to suffer as cuts to the legal aid budget in England and Wales have created advice deserts across the country, research by the BBC Shared Data Unit has revealed.

Local solicitors, not for profits and charities have been closing their doors and campaigners say, as a result, the advice network has been “decimated” and people in need of legal aid face a patchwork of provision.

In Herefordshire, no providers received payments for legal aid work in 2017/18 in the areas of mental health, community care, welfare and housing and debt provision.

It was only in the area of family law that Herefordshire had any provision with six providers covering the county population of 191,041.

In four areas of civil law, actions against the police, public law, mediation benefited from no legal aid payments with just one case assisted which came under the heading of clinical negligence.

Across England and Wales, hundreds of local providers have pulled out of legal aid work over the last six years, data from the MoJ reveals, with almost half a billion pounds less being spent on contracts.

The MoJ says those who need legal aid will always have access to a provider, and they are seeking to place new services in areas where gaps have been identified.

But cuts to legal aid have left many people with no choice but to navigate the justice system alone.

The Personal Support Unit - volunteers who help people unrepresented at court, has reported a five-fold rise since 2012.

In July, a report from the joint committee on human rights warned legal aid ‘deserts’ had emerged, as the service is rendered financially unviable in some areas.

And the UN Poverty Envoy to the United Kingdom found in November that cuts to legal aid had “overwhelmingly affected the poor and people with disabilities, many of whom… are effectively deprived of their human right”.

The Ministry of Justice has seen its budget reduced by more than 40% since the financial crash, falling from almost £11bn to £6.3bn.

A further £300m of cuts by 2018-19 were confirmed in October’s budget.

Legal aid has existed since 1949 to ensure those who cannot afford legal advice or representation can access the justice system in their time of need.