On 5 December, the Ministry of Justice announced that it would relax the rules on the evidence that must be provided for legal aid to be granted in cases of domestic or child abuse. Under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO), virtually all private family law issues were removed from the scope of legal aid. This included parental separation and child contact cases.
Under LASPO there were exemptions allowing people to get legal aid in cases where:
However, these exemptions would only apply if specific forms of evidence could be provided, as outlined in Regulations 33 and 34 of The Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) Regulations 2012. This list of eligible forms of evidence included unspent convictions, police cautions, reports from medical professionals, and letters from social services, but was widely criticised for being too restrictive. Equally problematically, the evidence had tight time limits - it had to be from within the previous 24 months.
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