HDRC Coventry Webinar: Using Administrative Benefits Data to Evaluate Legal Services

NIHR Coventry HDRC Lunchtime Webinar - 'Exploring the Potential of Administrative Benefits Data to Evaluate the Impact of Legal Services' Abstract Produced by Policy in Practice in partnership with Central England Law Centre (CELC) and Coventry City Council, this study addresses the longstanding challenge in access to justice research: the limited quantitative evidence on how legal assistance affects social and economic outcomes. Following the discontinuation of the HMCTS Early Legal Advice Pilot (ELAP) which included a pilot-RCT phase, this study was funded by the Legal Education Foundation to explore an alternative approach using linked administrative data from existing services. The study linked CELC casework records with local authority and benefits data tracking outcomes for 110 households over 24-months. It examined whether administrative data could measure longer-term changes in income, poverty and wellbeing among people receiving legal assistance. The findings demonstrate the feasibility and value of this approach. Nearly half (48.6%) of consenting CELC clients were linked to at least one administrative dataset, helping establish the first UK dataset of its kind focused on legal assistance recipients. Households receiving legal assistance experienced sustained improvements in financial wellbeing, with equivalised household income increasing by an average of £153 per month relative to a comparison group. This suggests that legal assistance can function as an anti-poverty intervention with measurable economic effects. Evidence indicated improved wellbeing outcomes - over half of participants reporting anxiety, stress or depression before seeking advice, while three-quarters reporting improved mental health after their first appointment. The findings highlight the potential of linked administrative data for access to justice research and the value of integrated, holistic legal support in addressing interconnected legal, financial and wellbeing challenges. They underline the importance of mixed and flexible funding, including unrestricted core funding, which enables services to respond to complex and overlapping household needs. This study offers a scalable method for future research and provides early quantitative evidence of the longer-term impact of legal assistance. Speaker Bio Juliet-Nil Uraz Juliet-Nil Uraz is an applied microeconomist whose work examines how unequal access to justice shapes economic opportunity. Her research studies how vulnerable households navigate fragmented public systems, with a particular focus on legal aid, social protection, and the non-take-up of benefits. She is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at the National Center for Access to Justice and at Fordham Law School. Juliet works with Policy in Practice to bring administrative data insights into the legal services sector. Her work combines causal inference and policy partnerships to study public service delivery and access to justice. Her doctoral research examines the effects of LASPO on evictions, homelessness, and mortality, and constructs the first continuous time series on legal aid expenditures in the UK since 1949. Claire Stern Claire has worked for the law centre since 2015 and is the deputy chief executive officer. Claire has worked in paid and voluntary roles in the charity and not for profit sector for over 20 years in project management, organisational development and leadership roles. She has a particular interest in understanding what works for which communities to access justice and improve legal capability. Katherine Lloyd Katherine joined the law centre in 2025, having previously worked as a solicitor and for a member of parliament. She runs a clinic alongside University of Warwick focusing on strategic social justice and leads on policy work for the law centre.