Personal Support Unit

Informasi umum

The PSU helps people facing civil and family courts without representation. We offer practical and emotional support to help clients gain a fair result in court.

With the closure of many local free advice centres, more people are being forced to deal with legal proceedings without professional advice.

PSUs are concentrated in areas that have some of the highest deprivation levels and unemployment rates in England and Wales. Newly established PSUs rapidly attract custom, usually helping more than 1,500 clients in their first year. The economic downturn has hit hard, leading to many more cases involving bankruptcy, debt and eviction and soaring levels of family breakdown.

The need for PSU help in family cases continues to rise. Last year, family cases increased from 10,000 to over 15,000 and now account for 50% of our workload. Worryingly, 2 in 3 of our family cases are about children.