Victory for domestic abuse victims as Government relax legal aid rules

More domestic violence victims will be able to access legal aid after the Government relaxed the rules because they were previously declared legally flawed by the Court of Appeal.

In a victory for women’s rights campaigners, Justice Minister Shailesh Vara said abuse victims will now be able to present evidence obtained five years before their application for legal aid, up from two.

And victims will now be able to apply for legal aid if they are suffering financial abuse, Mr Vara said.

The moves come after the Court of Appeal ruled the old two year qualifying period as “invalid” and the exclusion of financial abuse as flawed.

The February ruling was a victory for campaign group Rights of Women (ROW), which argued that large numbers of victims were unlawfully being excluded from obtaining funding because of the changes.

Campaigners said those who have endured rape and beating were unfairly being forced to “face their abuser in court” without legal representation.

Announcing the changes in a written ministerial statement, Mr Vara said the Government was consulting with domestic violence support groups and legal representative bodies to carry out a review of the court’s findings and find a solution.

But he went on: “In the meantime we are taking immediate action, through interim regulations laid before Parliament today, to change our arrangements.

“We are more than doubling the original time limit for evidence – increasing it from two to five years, and we are introducing a provision for the assessment of evidence concerning financial abuse.

“We are expediting implementation of these changes so they will come into effect on Monday April 25 in order to make sure that victims of domestic violence can receive the support they need as soon as possible, and to give certainty to those considering applications for legal aid.

“We believe that these arrangements address the court’s concerns while work continues to find a sustainable longer-term solution.”

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