Legal Representation
(asked on 2nd March 2018) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many litigants in person have been through the courts in family and housing cases in each of the last five years.
Figures on the legal representation of applicants and respondents in family proceedings in England and Wales from 2012 to 2016 with at least one hearing are shown in Table 1 below. We do not collect for all types of housing proceedings, data on the representation status of applicants and respondents. Where data is not currently held it could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Table 1. Legal representation status of applicants and respondents in Family Courts cases1 with at least one hearing, England & Wales | |||||||||||
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| Representation status at most recent hearing | ||||||||||
| Applicants |
| Respondents | ||||||||
| Total applicants | Known representation | No advocate representation / unknown2 |
| Total respondents | Known representation | No advocate representation / unknown2 | ||||
Year | Number | Number | % | Number | % |
| Number | Number | % | Number | % |
2012 | 107,915 | 78,559 | 73% | 29,356 | 27% |
| 124,872 | 63,344 | 51% | 61,528 | 49% |
2013 | 113,431 | 75,047 | 66% | 38,384 | 34% |
| 129,838 | 54,103 | 42% | 75,735 | 58% |
2014 | 99,065 | 60,309 | 61% | 38,756 | 39% |
| 114,797 | 46,486 | 40% | 68,311 | 60% |
2015 | 100,725 | 61,489 | 61% | 39,236 | 39% |
| 117,907 | 48,952 | 42% | 68,955 | 58% |
2016 | 106,371 | 64,481 | 61% | 41,890 | 39% |
| 126,666 | 52,784 | 42% | 73,882 | 58% |
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Notes: |
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1. Family cases include divorce, financial remedy, public law, private law, domestic violence remedy and adoption cases. | |||||||||||
2. Self-representation is determined by the field 'legal representation' in Familyman being left blank, and 'at least one hearing' refers to non-vacated scheduled hearings, rather than actual hearings that have taken place. | |||||||||||