Frequently asked questions - Legal Needs Survey

You can read the reports here:

Access to Justice Legal Needs Survey Final Report - October 2024 [PDF, 1.5 MB]

Access to Justice Business Survey Final Report - October 2024 [PDF, 767 KB]

Access to Justice Technical Survey Report - October 2024 [PDF, 1.2 MB]

Legal Needs Survey - General Population Survey - Summary Infographic [PDF, 607 KB]

What is the Access to Justice Legal Needs Survey?

The Access to Justice policy team at the Ministry of Justice and the Government Centre for Dispute Resolution at MBIE conducted an Access to Justice Legal Needs Survey which explored the prevalence of met and unmet legal need in Aotearoa New Zealand. The results of the survey are presented in the general population report, and the small business report.

The Access to Justice Advisory Group (which includes representation from the judiciary, the Ministry of Justice, and the legal profession) commissioned the comprehensive nationwide survey to better understand what people do (or do not do) about their legal problems. 

The survey establishes a robust and up-to-date evidence base necessary to inform and prioritise policy and operational decision making. The survey results ensure that future interventions to improve access to justice are based on up-to-date evidence.

The survey reflects a broad range of New Zealanders’ experiences. Therefore, it was designed to be sufficiently comprehensive to describe the legal needs of:

  • adult residents of New Zealand
  • Māori and Pasifika people
  • people who live in rural/non-metro areas

Who else was surveyed?

The survey includes a small business section to better understand:

  • what sorts of disputes arise and what businesses do (or don’t do) to resolve them
  • the personal impact (financial and wellbeing) on people who own or manage small businesses.

This information will be used to identify new services or policy changes to better help small businesses resolve issues and disputes.

What survey method was used?

Telephone interviews were conducted between September and December 2023, with 5,390 adults. Interviews lasted 30 minutes on average, though this was slightly longer for those who also took part in the small business survey.

To gain useful insights into the legal needs of Māori and Pasifika people, the survey involved a boost to gain more Māori and Pasifika participants. Care was taken to not boost these numbers too high to ensure that we maintained a representative national sample. A smaller boost was given to rural participants to ensure a broad geographic spread.

What kind of legal issues did the survey focus on?

Our survey concentrated on civil legal issues, which can arise from everyday activities and span many areas of life. The types of everyday issues the survey looked at include:

  • employment
  • welfare benefits
  • housing and land
  • product or service (both online and offline)
  • money or debt
  • financial advisors or providers
  • caring and end of life issues
  • government officials or public services
  • immigration
  • family/whanau and relationship issues
  • injury or difficulties with ACC
  • environmental issues

We expect that the data and analysis on these issues will be of interest to a wide range of people and organisations.

What are the results of the survey?

The survey has delivered many useful insights into people’s legal needs. Some of the key findings include:

  • In the preceding year, a third of the population have experienced an issue which could be resolved through legal action.
  • Certain groups were more likely to encounter legal issues. The most likely being disabled people, LGBT+ People, single parents, Māori, and those with low savings.
  • Ten percent of the population experience 77 percent of the issues.
  • Issues were often resolved via mutual agreement between the parties (35 percent being resolved this way). 64 percent of respondents said the help they obtained helped resolve their issue.
  • In eight percent of issues, people did nothing at all, usually because they felt it would make no difference, wasn’t very important, would take too long, or be too stressful.
  • Almost four in ten businesses experience at least one issue or dispute during the year. The most common being consumer debt or late payments, and customer complaints.

What is Access to Justice?

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.

What is Legal Need?

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.

What is the purpose of a Legal Needs Survey?

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:

  • a more complete picture of the extent of experience of everyday legal issues
  • an understanding of the types of problems with the greatest consequences, and the nature and scale of that impact
  • awareness of the different resolution options and the accessibility of legal assistance, from self-help to not-for-profit and private lawyers
  • the actions taken in response to legal problems and how successful these are in improving outcomes
  • an understanding of the different experience and response to legal issues across population sub-groups

When was the last time a project like this was completed?

Prior to this, the most recent New Zealand legal needs survey was completed in 2018 and it captured data from the general population and low-income New Zealanders.

Key findings from that survey include:

  • 37 percent of the general population and 39 percent of the low-income population had experienced a problem or dispute in the preceding two years.
  • Low-income respondents were more likely to experience multiple types of problems.
  • Most people with unmet legal need experience stress, financial loss and loss of confidence, or fear. The low-income population were more likely to experience multiple negative effects.
  • Most people seek information or advice from friends and family.
  • 47 percent of the general population compared with 38 percent of the low-income population described their problem as fully resolved.
  • Money or debt problems were more likely than other problems to remain unresolved.

The 2023 survey builds upon the 2018 survey by surveying five times more people, including small businesses, and asking more comprehensive questions on resolution options.

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