Earlier this month an article in The Guardian looked at one consequence of the cuts to legal aid – that perpetrators of domestic abuse are being given the opportunity to cross examine their ex-partners in court. This however only makes up a very small part of the bigger picture on the effects to cuts on legal aid.
The cuts were introduced on 1st April 2013 and for those not in a position to pay legal costs, this has had a dramatic effect on the availability of legal advice and representation. The cuts affected all areas of social welfare law including: welfare benefits, housing, debt, immigration, employment and education as well as family law.
Almost four years on the impact of the cuts are all too real for those of us at the ‘coal face’. Since 2013 many people have come to believe that no one is entitled to family legal aid. Consequently, the number of initial enquiries about legal aid entitlement has fallen.
Legal aid does remain available for parents whose children are at risk of being taken into care. This type of legal aid is not means tested.
Means tested legal aid is still available for victims of domestic abuse and for those seeking to protect children who have been victims of child abuse who are able to provide ‘evidence’ of the abuse. It is also available for family mediation and for advice from a solicitor whilst the mediation process is ongoing.
The problem for many potential clients is the requirement to provide written ‘evidence’ that the abuse has taken place within a prescribed time period. This can be, for example, in the form of a letter from a doctor or social services. By its very nature such abuse is not something people tend to disclose to others and therefore many victims are unable to supply the requisite ‘evidence’.
As a result of a legal challenge brought to the rules by the campaigning organisation Rights of Women, the time period for evidence of domestic violence was extended from 2 years to 5 years. However, no such change has been made to the rules on child abuse. The current law is therefore that those seeking to protect victims of child abuse have to demonstrate that this has taken place in the last 2 years, but victims of domestic abuse have to show this has taken place within 5 years; a very odd distinction indeed. You can view here the Legal Aid evidence requirements.
Even for those who are entitled to legal aid it is getting ever more difficult to secure funding. The Legal Aid Agency, the section of the Ministry of Justice which administers legal aid, now takes a much stricter approach to legal aid applications. The Agency now questions everything; a common example is small transactions on clients’ bank statements which make little difference to their overall financial circumstances. For those of us in practice, it appears that the Agency is bending over backwards not to grant funding. The result is delays and frustration for clients who are often at their most vulnerable.
The lack of legal aid means many more people than before make their own applications to court. This has brought about its own problems as it takes much longer for the Courts to deal with ‘litigants in person’ than those represented by lawyers. The result is a backlog within the court system and yet more delay.
The past four year have seen a huge contraction in the numbers of people in Sheffield we are able to help. This is not only due to the reduction in legal aid availability but a lack of awareness that legal aid is still available for some. People are simply not accessing legal advice on family law issues which no doubt means that children are losing relationships with one of their parents and people are not being able to obtain an appropriate financial settlement on separation.
To find out more, contact Taylor&Emmet on (0114) 218 4000, email info@tayloremmet.co.uk or follow the firm on Twitter @tayloremmet.
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