Charity Group to Challenge Legality of Legal Aid Restrictions for Victims of Domestic Violence

The High Court last week gave permission to charity group ‘Rights of Women’ to challenge government policy concerning victims of domestic violence and legal aid.

Rights of Women are being represented by the Public Law Project and are supported by the law society. They claim that changes to legal aid are stopping many victims of domestic abuse from receiving help for family law cases where it is obvious there is ongoing violence or a risk of violence.

The legal changes that were introduced in April 2013 require that in order to obtain family law legal aid, victims of domestic violence must provide a prescribed form of evidence. However, many victims of domestic violence are unable to provide or do not have such evidence.

The charity will argue that this is not the intention of Parliament and the current policy is a breach of Articles 6 and 8 of the Human Rights Act.

Rights of women highlight the startling statistics of domestic violence citing that two omen each week are killed by a current or former partner and 500 victims of domestic violence kill themselves each year.

Despite these harrowing figures, a report published by Rights of Women and others in October 2013, showed that many survivors of severe domestic violence are prevented from gaining legal aid in family courts.

If you have been affected by domestic guidance and require legal advice, contact us today.

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