If you are a current client with the benefit of legal aid or you have an appointment scheduled between now and 31 March 2013 and you are seeking legal aid, it is VERY IMPORTANT that you read this.
WITHDRAWAL OF LEGAL AID
Legal aid is being withdrawn by the government for most family law cases, except those involving domestic abuse or children being taken into care, as of the end of March this year. There are some other very limited exceptions, but on the whole the availability of legal aid will soon be greatly restricted.
We believe this has grave consequences for access to justice for many people, particularly those most vulnerable in society, and in common with The Law Society, Citizens Advice Bureau and many other advice services, lobbied against the reforms. However, the government, subject to some minor revisions, has determined that the reforms are to proceed and come into effect as of 1 April 2013.
If you are concerned about the withdrawal of legal aid from family law cases as detailed above, we suggest that you contact your local MP. If you would like to read a copy of our letter to Simon Wright MP raising concerns about the cuts to legal aid and the response from Jonathan Djanogly, who was at the time Justice Secretary, please follow the following link to our website:
http://familylawconsultancy.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/legal-aid-update.html
Existing Clients with Public Funding
If you already have the benefit of a valid Public Funding Certificate, we will continue to act for you until the conclusion of your case or any earlier discharge of your Public Funding Certificate, for example if your financial circumstances change and you become financially ineligible for legal aid.
Current Clients on Legal Help and those who have appointments booked with us
If you are a current client or you have an appointment scheduled with us between now and 31 March 2013, we will be able to assist you under what is known as the Legal Help Scheme (subject to eligibility), which is a limited initial form of legal aid. However, the Legal Help Scheme will not cover any court proceedings. If you do need legal aid to cover court proceedings, please be aware that such funding will not be available after 31 March 2013, except in certain very limited circumstances as mentioned above.
Applications for further legal aid for court proceedings must be submitted by 31 March 2013. However, unless your case can be dealt with on an emergency basis, it may well not be possible to ensure that an application for legal aid is made on your behalf by this date. In most cases, you will be required to try to resolve your case through negotiation or mediation, before an application for full legal aid can be submitted. In addition, such applications also require completion of various application forms and provision of bank statements, payslips etc and other supporting documentation, which can take time to prepare. It is likely, therefore, that it will now be difficult, if not impossible, to submit an application for full legal aid for you by 31 March 2013.
If you are seeking legal aid and have an appointment booked with us, we will have given you the earliest appointment that is available. However, it is open to you, if you wish, to try and obtain an earlier appointment with an alternative advice provider. Please let us know if you decide to do so.
For existing clients in the process of attending mediation and/or engaging in negotiations and/or who have been sent Public Funding application forms for completion, we will do our best to assist you in submitting your application by the deadline of 31 March 2013. However, the onus is on you to ensure that you respond to us promptly and take all reasonable steps to progress your matter swiftly. You must ensure that application forms are accurately and fully completed, with all questions answered, and ALL original and up to date supporting evidence required provided. Failure to do so will result in the Legal Services Commission rejecting your application.
We will also require at least 7 working days to send on your application on to The Legal Services Commission following receipt of your correctly completed and supported application. Therefore, the deadline for sending such applications to us will be 20 March 2013, as the 31 March 2013 is a Sunday and therefore we will need to submit applications by 29 March 2013 at the absolute latest. Ordinarily, we will send such applications via document exchange (DX) and although we will keep a copy on your file, we will not retain any proof of sending. It is not unheard of for things to go astray in the post or for the Legal Services Commission to say that they cannot trace receipt of applications sent to them. If you wish to ensure that proof of sending is obtained, please make specific arrangements with our office, and you will need to be prepared to take your application to the Post Office to send by Royal Mail special / recorded delivery and to meet the cost of this.
PLEASE NOTE THAT WE CANNOT ACCEPT ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE UNAVAILABILITY OF LEGAL AID TO YOU ARISING FROM THE ABOVE CIRCUMSTANCES.
LEGAL AID AFTER 31 MARCH 2013
Legal Aid will generally only REMAIN available for:
- Public family law regarding protection of children (ie care proceedings taken by the Local Authority)
- Private family where there is qualifying evidence of domestic abuse
- Private law children cases where there is qualifying evidence of child abuse
- Child abduction matters
- Representation for child parties in private family cases
- Legal advice in support of mediation
- Domestic abuse injunction cases
- Forced marriage protection order cases
As explained above, traditional legal advice and representation in respect of most divorce proceedings, negotiations relating to children, property and financial matters and court proceedings will no longer be funded by the government, save in exceptional cases. However, the government wishes to promote the resolution of family disputes via mediation.
Mediation involves you and the other party meeting with a trained, impartial mediator (usually separately to begin with) who would assess the suitability of your case for mediation and, if it was agreed that mediation should proceed, would seek to assist the two of you reach a joint agreement without the need for court proceedings. A mediator cannot, however, impose any decisions upon you or advise you.
As a mediator cannot give you legal advice, but it is important that you understand your legal rights and the legal implications of any mediated settlement that you are considering entering into before committing yourself, a limited amount of legal aid will be available under the Legal Help Scheme after 31 March 2013 for those who are financially eligible to obtain legal advice during and at the end of the mediation process. If you were able to reach an agreement through mediation, you would be given an opportunity to seek advice on the terms of the agreement before deciding whether you wanted it embodied into a legally binding format, and legal aid will be available to assist with that.
Family Law Consultancy is seeking to provide mediation services to those eligible for legally aided mediation. If this is granted, then those seeking assistance in respect of their family matter after 31 March 2013 will have a choice of seeking mediation with us, and of obtaining legal advice in support of mediation from another firm of solicitors with a legal aid contract to provide such advice, or of seeking mediation at another mediation service, and of seeking our advice in support of that mediation when the time comes. We cannot, however, provide mediation services to those who instruct us to provide legal representation, or provide legal representation to those who engage our mediation service, due to the potential conflict of interests that could arise.
