The UK Court of Appeal ruled evidence requirements which have been operating to prevent survivors of domestic abuse from obtaining legal aid were unlawful. In 2013, the civil legal aid scheme in England and Wales underwent major reforms. Regulations introduced under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 required specific supporting evidence of domestic violence must be provided in support of an application for civil legal aid. It was argued by the applicant Rights of Women that the Regulations had the effect of barring a great number of those suffering from domestic violence from availing of the scheme, given that the nature of the abuse can often be non-physical and proof would be required within a 24 month time-limit.
Considering the evidence presented by Rights of Women as to circumstances in which the Regulations operated as a bar to legal aid, the Court found that there was a “formidable catalogue of areas of domestic violence not reached by a statute whose purpose is to reach just such cases”. The Court agreed with Rights of Women that there was “no obvious correlation between the passage of such a comparatively short period of time as 24 months and the harm to the victim of domestic violence disappearing or even significantly diminishing”. As a consequence, the Court unanimously found the regulations to be unlawful, with the two year time limit for evidence ruled improper. The Government is now compelled to amend the legal aid regulations in order to guarantee that women experiencing financial abuse are also able to avail of family law legal aid.
Lord Justice Longmore stated in his judgment “legal aid is one of the hallmarks of a civilised society”. While Emma Scott, Director of Rights of Women, said: “We look forward to working with the Ministry of Justice on amendments to the regulations to ensure that women affected by all forms of domestic violence are able to get legal aid”.
PILA has previously reported on the strategic casework undertaken by the Public Law Project around cuts to legal aid. You can read more that here.
For the full judgment, click here.
For the Rights of Women press release, click here.