The Access to Justice policy team at the Ministry of Justice and the Government Centre for Dispute Resolution at MBIE are undertaking an Access to Justice Legal Needs Survey to explore the prevalence of met and unmet legal need in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The survey aims to establish a robust and up-to-date evidence base necessary to inform and prioritise policy and operational decision making. This information will ensure that future interventions to improve access to justice are based on up-to-date evidence.
It is crucial that the survey reflects a broad range of New Zealanders’ experiences. We intend for the survey to be comprehensive enough to separately describe the legal needs of:
The survey will include a small business section with data being collected for the Government Centre for Dispute Resolution at MBIE.
MBIE wants to better understand:
MBIE will use this information to identify if there is a need for new services or policy changes to better help small businesses resolve issues and disputes.
Broadly, access to justice can be defined as the ability of people to get a just resolution to their legal issues and enforce their rights. Justice can be accessed through avenues such as legal advice and services, legal representation, courts and tribunals, alternative dispute resolution such as mediation, and information about legal rights.
Legal need arises when someone has a problem or issue that requires a legal solution. Legal issues that are resolved through the formal justice system, such as the courts, only capture part of the picture of legal need in New Zealand.
Even if someone’s issue could be resolved with legal assistance, they may not recognise this is the case, or act on it, resulting in unmet legal need. People may also not understand the full range of possible options to resolve their issues.
Legal need that is unmet inhibits access to justice.
Legal Needs Surveys (LNS) are valuable tools to understand who experiences legal issues, where they arise, their impacts and costs, and what works to address issues in an effective way.
They provide a unique view on justice needs and impacts from the perspective of the person experiencing them. The value of these surveys is that they provide:
Our survey concentrates on civil legal issues, which can arise from everyday activities and span many areas of life. The types of everyday issues the survey will be looking at include:
We expect that the data and analysis on these issues that the LNS will provide will be of interest to a wide range of people and organisations.
The most recent LNS in New Zealand was completed in 2018 and it captured data from the general population and low-income New Zealanders.
Key findings from that survey include:
The 2023 LNS aims to build on the 2018 LNS by surveying five times more people, including small businesses, and asking more comprehensive questions on resolution options.
This page was last updated: