Bar Council calls for legal aid for all family court cases involving domestic abuse | Family law
The Bar Council has called for all family court cases involving domestic abuse to be covered by legal aid for both parties and for the means test to be abolished for victims and alleged victims of domestic abuse.
The body, which represents all 18,000 lawyers in England and Wales, has produced a suite of recommendations to improve the ability of the family justice system in a new policy document.
The organization warned that currently only 15 per cent of families are eligible for legal aid and that this, combined with difficulties in recruiting and retaining qualified family lawyers, has led to large parts of the country becoming a “legal advice desert”.
This led to many people being forced to present themselves as the “true party in the case”; The Bar Council said this consumes scarce time and resources and can often be a re-traumatizing process for victims and survivors.
The family courts system plays a vital role in tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) and investing and reforming the family justice system could help the government meet its target of halving it within a decade, the Bar Council has said.
More than 1.2 million women and more than 550,000 men aged 16 to 59 are estimated to be victims of domestic violence in the year ending March 2024, according to government data.
a report domestic violence commission published in october found that domestic abuse occurred in almost 90% of cases in family court.
The Bar Council’s other recommendations include increasing legal aid funding in family law, adequately funding the expansion of path finding courts and family drug and alcohol courts (FDAC) across England and Wales, and improving support for those going through the family justice system.
The policy document also calls for continued support for the Domestic Abuse Protection Orders and Notices (DAPOs and DAPNs) pilot scheme and the provision of offender programs following the findings of confessional or fact hearings in the family court.
“Violence against women and girls is no longer a private problem, it is now a public emergency. We know that women and girls are being hurt by men who claim to love them in the place they call home.
“If we do not consider family justice as well as criminal justice when it comes to tackling VAWG, we are only scratching the surface in terms of solutions,” said Bar Council president Barbara Mills KC, herself a family law expert.
“That’s why we’ve put forward our proposals; we know that through family courts we can not only protect victims but also prevent violence against women and girls in the long term.”
Lawyers brought up issues such as the fact that in some courts, victims and alleged perpetrators are forced to sit in the same waiting room, and meetings are held in adjacent rooms where conversations can be heard.
Some courts do not have drinking water or hand-washing facilities, and it has been warned that the lack of security would endanger lawyers and clients.
Mills said that “the system in its current form cannot work as it should.”
“The long history of underfunding in the court system has left a dilapidated and understaffed courthouse that is not always adequate to support efficient work,” he added.
“Investment is urgently needed to ensure that we have justice that is accessible, victim-centred, focused on early intervention and prevention.”
