The mayor of London has warned that the majority of women who have suffered domestic violence will find it ‘impossible’ to get legal aid to help divorce their abusive partners, because of the ‘restrictive’ evidence required to prove it.
In written evidence to the public bill committee on the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, Boris Johnson called on the government to widen the evidential criteria to ensure all victims of domestic violence can access legal aid in private family law matters.
The government proposes removing legal aid for private family cases, including divorce, child contact and child support cases, unless there is an issue of domestic violence.
But the definition of domestic violence used in the bill is much more restrictive than the definition used generally, including by the Association of Chief Police Officers, and only cases where there is ‘objective’ proof of abuse will be funded.
The bill limits that proof to where a person has recently been through a formal judicial, police or social services process in which domestic violence was certified to have happened.
This would mean the vast majority of domestic abuse victims, many of whom do not report matters to the police or seek court orders, would not receive help in divorcing their abusive partners or sorting out child contact arrangements.
Johnson said: ‘Research tells us that, as with all forms of violence against women, there is significant under-reporting of domestic violence by victims.
'Therefore, the requirements for ongoing criminal proceedings or evidence of a referral to a multi-agency risk assessment conference as criteria for eligibility will make it impossible for the majority of women experiencing domestic violence to access legal aid.’
‘To ensure that all victims of domestic violence are eligible for legal aid, the evidential criteria should be widened to include evidence from specialist domestic violence services, health, housing and social services,’ he said.
Law Society council member for child care Christina Blacklaws said: ‘How refreshing to have support on such a vital issue from such an important and unanticipated source.
‘The approach of the government is so clearly wrong - limiting vital support to victims at a time when they and their children are most vulnerable - that even prominent members of the Conservative party are forced to make public comment condemning this aspect of the bill.’
Blacklaws urged other coalition politicians to voice their concerns, as she said the government ‘seems determined to ignore the pleas of all the professions involved in this, are who are unified in their opposition to it’.
Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson said: ‘The Law Society agrees with the Mayor that the government’s proposals in respect of legal aid for women suffering domestic violence need significant amendment if women are not going to suffer further.’
Shadow justice minister Andrew Slaughter MP said: ‘The Mayor of London seems to agree with Labour that the Tory-led government's plans to reform legal aid will be a disaster for women suffering domestic abuse.
‘This is a good opportunity for the government to rethink its policy on legal aid, which everyone from the National Federation of Women’s Institutes to Rights of Women has said will cast the most vulnerable women adrift.’
A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: ‘At more than £2 billion a year, we have one of the most expensive legal aid systems in the world. This cannot continue.’
‘We need to make clear choices to ensure that legal aid will continue to be available in those cases that really require it, the protection of the most vulnerable in society, and the efficient performance of the justice system,’ she said.
She said the MoJ had listened to views in the recent consultation, and extended the proposals on funding family cases in the bill to cover child abuse cases and to accept a wider range of proof of domestic violence.
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