Domestic Abuse

(asked on 19th October 2020) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of whether the implementation of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 has caused an unintended bias in access to justice in favour of the abuser rather than the victim.


Answered by
Alex Chalk Portrait
Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
This question was answered on 22nd October 2020

Under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO), legal aid remains available for private family matters where there is evidence of domestic abuse or child abuse. The Post-Implementation Review of LASPO (PIR), published in February 2019, considered the impact of LASPO on victims of domestic abuse. In the Legal Support Action Plan, published alongside the PIR, we announced a review of the legal aid means tests, including a commitment to specifically considering the impact of the means test on victims of domestic abuse. This review will report in Spring 2021, at which point we will publish a full consultation paper setting out our future policy proposals in this area.

The government is absolutely clear that victims of domestic abuse must have access to the help that they need. The Government’s report ‘Assessing Risk of Harm to Children and Parents in Private Law Children Cases’ published on 19 June 2019 further outlines an unwavering commitment to ensure domestic abuse survivors are better protected. This report acted as a springboard for further actions we are taking to protect and support domestic abuse victims and their children. The Domestic Abuse Bill has allowed us to enable the immediate changes called for in the report, creating a statutory definition of domestic abuse working to ensure that victims are protected and supported.

We recognise that victims of domestic abuse may need legal aid quickly in emergency situations, so there is already an eligibility cap waiver in place, which means that an applicant for a protective injunction may be eligible for legal aid even if they have income or capital above the thresholds in the means test, though they may have to pay a financial contribution towards their legal costs. In addition, we are providing £800,000 funding to the FLOWS project, run by RCJ Advice, who provide free legal support to victims of domestic abuse who wish to apply for an injunction from the courts.

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