Access to legal aid and early advice can be the difference between a safe home and homelessness. However, many people across the country on low incomes and facing serious housing situations - sometimes on the cusp of eviction - are struggling to get the local face-to-face advice that they're legally entitled to.

We analysed data from the Legal Aid Agency directory of providers (February 2021) and the Office of National Statistics (2021) and found that in England and Wales:

• almost 40% of the population of England and Wales do not have a housing legal aid provider in their local authority area, a figure that has grown by around 2% since 2019
• only 39% of the population have access to more than one provider in their local authority area

A lack of providers can mean services are over-stretched, potentially denying timely advice to those with urgent legal issues.

Click on your local authority to find out how many housing legal aid providers there are: