The number of lawyers specialising in legal aid cases has halved in the last four years, figures from the legal aid council Raad voor de Rechtsbijstand show.

Between 2019 and 2023 the number of lawyers who took on more than 10 benefit- related cases dropped from 1,834 to 826. The same trend was apparent in lawyers taking on work and pensions related cases.

Fewer lawyers were also available for cases involving rent (-67%), employment rights (-55%) and family law (-26%).

Over a third of the Dutch have a right to subsidised legal help based on their income. There are currently some 4,400 lawyers who take on 10 legal aid cases or more a year, compared to over 5,000 in 2019.

Some lawyers have retired but a larger than average number of young social justice lawyers have left the profession.

“The areas in which help is no longer available, such as social security rights and rental rights, are directly affecting the basic rights of people,” Sanne van Oers, a legal aid lawyer and president of the Dutch Bar Council, told De Groene Amsterdammer.

The decline is partly to do with the low fees lawyers are getting for legal aid cases, Van Oers said. “It’s often not enough to earn a living.”

The pressure of work is another reason, she said, because fewer lawyers now have to take on more cases.

The Juridisch Loket, where people on low incomes can request legal aid, has handled a quarter more cases this year compared to 2023. Some 7,500 people a week on average ask the service for advice by phone and some 1,600 people attend in person. In 10% of cases the service refers people to a social justice lawyer.

“Most queries directly affect people’s basic requirements, such as a divorce, work problems or housing,” spokeswoman Willemijn van Helden told Investico. “But it is taking much more time and energy to find a lawyer for these people when needed.”