Gallagher: More complex need
The Solicitors’ Charity has seen a sharp rise in the number of women calling on it for help, making up nearly three-quarters of all new clients in the last year.
From the total number of clients, old and new, 65% were women, while 68% of its beneficiaries had disabilities.
The charity’s annual report said it paid out £1.27m in grants to solicitors in 2025/26, £102,000 more than the previous 12 months, with a similar sum negotiated in debt arrangements or secured in statutory benefits.
London and the South-East had the highest number of solicitors seeking emotional, financial and professional support. The North-East had the lowest.
It said solicitors were facing “growing and more complex pressures”, rather than one single issue, affecting their wellbeing, confidence and ability to cope.
The report explained: “When people hear the word wellbeing, they often think only about mental health. But life in the law is more complex than that.
“Pressure at work can affect confidence, health issues can disrupt both working lives and retirement, and financial worries can quickly impact every part of daily life. Often these challenges overlap.”
Demand for support has tripled in the last three years. In 2025, the team offered over 5,600 hours of direct case manager support.
Chief executive Nick Gallagher said: “What we are seeing is not just increased demand, but more complex need. Challenges rarely exist in isolation, which means support has to help alleviate the full extent of what someone is going through.
“When people are able to access the right support at the right time, it can positively change how they experience and move through those challenges.”
The Solicitors’ Charity, formerly known as the Solicitors Benevolent Association, has provided support to lawyers since 1858. It relies on funding from trusts, foundations, local law societies, firms and individual lawyers – although the lion’s share of its funding last year came from unclaimed client account balances.
It helps with a wide range of issues, including a lack of money, ill health, disability, domestic violence and anxiety. Work is the cause of a lot of the anxiety cases.
Mr Gallagher said: “Increasingly, those seeking our help are of working age – particularly women – reflecting changes in the workforce and the pressures faced throughout modern legal careers and lives outside of it.
“In response, we are making more awards and delivering more tailored packages of support than ever before, designed around individuals’ needs. By providing timely, life-changing assistance, we help people to feel supported, rebuild independence, and move forward.”
The charity backs LawCare and it referred 341 solicitors – including non-practising and retired solicitors – for support from the healthcare charity. Of these, 50 were given a dedicated peer supporter to help with issues like stress and anxiety.
The report highlighted how the charity made a difference to the solicitors who sought its help.
For those with financial issues, 85% said its support helped them to maintain or improve their finances, while 93% said the charity’s support helped to maintain or improve their mental health.
Overall, 83% said the charity’s support helped them feel more positive and able to cope now and in the future.
Shams Rahman, the Edwin Coe partner who recently stood down as chair of the charity, said: “The challenges and pressures the profession continues to face have helped to shape the wellbeing support organisation that The Solicitors’ Charity has become.
“Serving more individuals in need than ever before, the charity has geared up significantly in terms of the range of support it offers.
“Like many charities, it faces challenges to find sustainable funding. Therefore, I urge leaders in the sector to support this unique and vital safety net, to raise awareness of it and to donate funds to it if you are able.
“This will ensure its longevity in providing support for generations of solicitors and their dependants to come.”
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