A survey of users of the Community Legal Advice (CLA) telephone helpline has called into question government claims that ‘many vulnerable groups’ prefer telephone advice.

In its legal aid consultation, which proposes making the CLA compulsory for most areas of civil work, the Ministry of Justice cited research which it said indicated that many disabled and ethnic minority users would rather use the helpline than receive face-to-face advice.

However, the Public Law Project, a charity that obtained a copy of the research from the MoJ, said that the report does not support this assertion. The Law Society has voiced similar concerns after analysing the report.

According to the CLA satisfaction survey, the telephone advice service solved the problems of less than 50% of the disabled or ethnic minority callers. Of the 125 disabled clients questioned, only 35% said the CLA specialist had resolved their problem, and 10% said CLA was still helping them.

Of the 121 ethnic minority users questioned, CLA had resolved problems for only 35%.

However, 87% of the disabled clients and 90% of the ethnic minority clients said they would recommend the service to others.

The legal aid consultation proposed the introduction of a single telephone gateway for all civil legal aid work, and an increase in the advice that is provided by telephone.

Diane Astin, director of the Public Law Project, said: ‘Telephone advice is not compulsory at the moment, so those taking part were a self-selecting group who had chosen to seek advice over the phone. Even then, it appears that only a small group actually had their problems solved.’

Law Society president Linda Lee said: ‘The authors of the green paper have clearly not understood the material they appear to have relied on.

‘We cannot see that this survey provides any basis for the statement made in the paper that many vulnerable groups in society prefer telephone advice.’

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: ‘Not everyone who calls the service is eligible for legal aid... Some people will have resolved their queries with initial assistance from CLA, which pointed them in the right direction.’