THE number of people forced to represent themselves in civil court proceedings who need charity support has increased fivefold in the last five years, new figures show.

Statistics released by the Personal Support Unit (PSU), a charity which helps “litigants in person,” reveal that in the 12 months to April it helped on more than 65,000 occasions, up from about 13,000 in 2012-13.

The sharp rise follows huge government cuts to legal aid, which led to criminal barristers refusing to take new legal aid instructions in protest.

The PSU says that more than 240,000 litigants have been aided in person in the past five years, with chief executive Nick Gallagher warning that the need for its help had “grown massively.”

Mr Gallagher said PSU staff “support people facing the courts alone in potentially life-changing situations, such as loss of access to children, homelessness or bankruptcy.

“Never has their help been more needed.”