The Big Report 2024 highlights The Solicitors’ Charity’s key role in supporting the profession
- 33% increase in number of solicitors supported by The Solicitors’ Charity
- Wellbeing support to clients totalled £972,064
- Rising demand for wellbeing support led to more funded referrals
- Disproportionately high demand from diverse ethnicities
“The support we offer is a real lifeline to the solicitors we help in times of hardship or crisis – it really validates The Solicitors’ Charity as a key safety net for the profession,” says a Case Manager from the Wellbeing & Grants Team.
The Big Report 2024 reflects this – with 33 per cent more solicitors being helped by the charity in 2023, compared with previous year, together with an increase in the overall awards made to clients.
A total of £972,064 of wellbeing support was given to solicitors in need last year or paid to partners to provide services.
The rise in demand for the charity’s support with emotional, physical, professional, and financial wellbeing in 2023 led to more funded referrals for all the charity’s partners – LawCare, Onebright, Renovo, Citizens Advice Manchester, and AdviceWorks.
The demographic breakdown also revealed that demand for services was high from those with diverse ethnic backgrounds. Industry data shows that this figure usually represents 18-19% of the solicitor workforce. However, the Solicitors’ Charity reports double this proportion of new clients from different ethnicities.
The Solicitors’ Charity CEO, Nick Gallagher, said: “We are proud to publish such a positive Big Report this year, reflecting the financial support we have provided over the past year to more than a third more solicitors facing challenges.
“The Big Report shows there is a real demand for our wellbeing services in all four wellbeing pillars – emotional, professional, physical and financial – and we are providing more support than ever before.
“Our clients came from a wide demographic across England and Wales – 66% identified as having some type of disability and over 60% were aged between 30 and 50. This demonstrates that we are helping a large proportion of people in mid-career or when their professional lives are (or should be) in full flow. The biggest stress factors were identified as
The Solicitors’ Charity funded 324 clients to receive wellbeing support from LawCare, which was almost double the previous year’s number of solicitors, seeking help with bullying and harassment concerns. Onebright was funded to provide mental health assessments and therapy referrals to 28 solicitors and their dependants.
Career transition counselling was provided to 19 clients by Renovo, with 40% already having secured a new job and others actively searching for work after receiving this targeted support. A further 37 solicitors were helped with money management advice by AdviceWorks and 32 received welfare benefit or debt advice from Citizens Advice Manchester, all with The Solicitors’ Charity funding.
The charity also supported solicitors (and former solicitors) with their physical wellbeing, including funding a specially adapted car for wheelchair transport.
Read the Big Report 2024 at thesolicitorscharity.org/big-report
NOTES:
The Solicitors’ Charity provides comprehensive support to improve the wellbeing of solicitors, helping them to overcome life’s challenges.
People approach the charity for help for all sorts of reasons - because of struggles with the cost of living and money management, ill health, disability, distress through domestic violence, and anxiety, often caused by work-related stress or life-connected trauma.
Support in the form of regular donations from trusts, foundations, local law societies, firms and individuals, and unclaimed client balances (RCBs) from firms, is needed more than ever by the charity in these challenging times.
The Solicitors’ Charity works with clients to identify packages of wellbeing support to help them return to being self-sustaining such as:
Emotional/mental support – with providers of psychotherapy, an initial assessment is offered followed by funded sessions with qualified therapists (from One Bright and Law Sight). The charity part-funds the mental health and wellbeing charity, LawCare, with trained lawyer volunteers providing peer support.
Financial support – if individuals are struggling with finances and money management, with expert partners (CAM and AdviceWorks), the charity helps with budgeting and drawing up practical money management plans. Because of increasing demand, it signed up money advice experts, Pennysmart, to provide more capacity and expertise for clients to tap into in 2024.
Professional/career support – clients may be returning to work after a break or may need to change the sector of the law they practice in. Perhaps they have been made redundant and need support with securing their next job. The charity funds career counselling support with partner, Renovo.
Physical support – anyone can experience physical illness or disabilities affecting their ability to work or manage at home. The Solicitors’ Charity provides occupational health assessments which help with adaptations to continue with life.
Find out more about The Solicitors’ Charity by visiting: thesolicitorscharity.org