Migration 
Edition 6 of the Bevan Foundation’s new series of reports highlights the impacts of the immigration legal services crisis on people seeking justice.
Part 6: Experiences of Justice series – Impacts(6 parts)
In this final edition of our six-part series reporting on our study of lived experiences at the heart of the immigration legal services crisis, we look at the impacts of the crisis on people seeking justice.
The report sets out what participants told us about the effects that struggling to find justice and legal representatives has on their emotional and physical health, their finances, their legal cases, and their personal lives. Some participants had suffered serious exploitation because of the lack of legal advice and help. We found:
- Over 40% of the people we spoke to had experienced negative financial or emotional impacts as a result of being unable to find good quality immigration legal advice or representation.
- 21% of people seeking sanctuary and 28% of others spoke of financial impacts of trying to access immigration legal justice.
- 30% of people seeking sanctuary had had a case refused as a result of being unable to find good quality immigration advice or representation
- 12% of participants said that their employment had been affected.
- At the time of the study, nearly 20% of participants were without legal representation although they needed it. This was true of almost a third of participants on immigration routes other than asylum.
We have supported our Experts by Experience working group to review the research findings and develop their own recommendations for improving access to justice for people seeking sanctuary in Wales. Their report is published as Appendix A to this report.
We will hold a webinar to share the study’s findings on Wednesday 26th February 2025 at 13:00 – 13:45.
Other editions in this series:
| Edition | Title |
| Part 1 | Summary Report |
| Part 2 | Barriers to Access |
| Part 3 | Client Care |
| Part 4 | Rights |
| Part 5 | Interpreters |
| Part 6 (this edition) | Impacts |
| APPENDIX A | Recommendations of the Experts by Experience Working Group |
| APPENDIX B | Project Participants |
