A Huge Gulf: - Demand and Supply for Immigration Legal Advice in London

Supply and Demand 4 L ondon has 40 per cent of the offi ces holding legal aid contracts in England and Wales, and more than half of the offi ces which are registered with the Offi ce of the Immigration Services Commissioner to off er non-fee charging services at the highest level of advice and casework. [...] A Huge Gulf: Demand and Supply for Immigration Legal Advice in London 15 Introduction This research was commissioned to provide detailed, timely intelligence and insight to support the development of a long-term strategy for sustainable funding of immigration, nationality and asylum advice in London, and to support the work of organisations in making the case. [...] A t the same time, the legal framework for migration to the UK, and for people who migrate to the UK, has been transformed by a series of immigration and asylum-related Acts of Parliament, Regulations, changes to the Immigration Rules, EU accessions and, most recently, the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. [...] The focus then moves to four key issues: The advice network, and routes into and through it: the entry points, referral pathways and bottlenecks which aff ect those seeking advice; Funding models and some of the issues arising from the management of multiple income streams which nearly all of the providers in the research rely on; H uman resources: the issues around recruitment, training, retentio. [...] A lthough the complexities of the sector and the size of the gap between need and supply appear daunting, this is an exciting and dynamic area to support.