Legal aid reforms will leave children exposed to domestic violence, campaigners warn

Women and children will be placed in danger if planned changes to legal aid are rubberstamped, campaigners have warned ahead of a House of Lords debate on the proposed legislation.

Campaigners argue that the eligibility criteria to qualify for legal aid, contained in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Bill, will mean victims having to provide “objective evidence” of the violence in order to qualify for legal aid.

This could include evidence that the perpetrator has a criminal conviction for violence, an injunction or an active child protection plan. However, it would exclude evidence from a GP, accident and emergency department or a women’s refuge.

Campaigners fear the clause would make it more difficult for victims to obtain injunctions, gain custody of a child or resolve issues over housing.

Research cited by Rights of Women indicates that 46 per cent of domestic violence victims will be ineligible for legal aid based on the new evidence criteria.

Fiona Weir, chief executive of Gingerbread, said: “The majority of domestic violence victims will not be able to provide the evidence required to access legal aid. This will leave them and their children vulnerable to ongoing abuse and unsafe child contact arrangements.”

The move has also been criticised in a letter to Justice Secretary Ken Clarke from prominent faith leaders, organised by the Caritas Social Action Network.

The letter states that legal aid “frequently allows for the resolution of domestic abuse cases before they escalate, in some cases avoiding serious injuries or even loss of life”.

“The proposed list of ‘objective evidence of domestic violence’, required in order to qualify for legal aid, appears restrictively narrow,” it adds.

“Most [worrying is] the fact that someone [who] has used specialist domestic violence services, provided by voluntary agencies such as women’s refuges, will not necessarily be accepted as evidence.

“This may leave many victims in dire need of support but without the ‘right kind of evidence’ to secure it, while others will be discouraged from pursuing legal solutions at all.”

The proposed changes are set to be opposed in the House of Lords by former attorney general Baroness Scotland today (5 March).

Speaking to The Independent, she said restricting access to legal aid for victims of domestic violence would lead to a rise in deaths and assaults against women and children.

A statement provided by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said the government is committed to supporting victims of domestic violence.

An MoJ spokesman added that the government has previously laid an amendment to the bill, which widened the definition of domestic violence after concerns were raised that the definition did not include psychological or financial domestic abuse.

“The government has accepted calls to adopt the police’s widely used definition of what constitutes domestic violence,” the spokesman said.

“This makes it clear that on top of physical abuse, psychological and emotional abuse will also be regarded as domestic violence, as will financial abuse through bullying a partner by controlling their finances.”