Family legal aid is one of the most complex areas of the legal aid scheme — not because the law is unfamiliar, but because the eligibility rules sit at the intersection of detailed financial means testing, specific gateway evidence requirements, and the residual scope provisions that survived the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) reforms. Getting eligibility right at the outset is critical: a matter opened without proper evidence risks being unrecoverable on audit, regardless of the quality of the legal work done.

This guide explains exactly how financial eligibility for family legal aid works, the different tests that apply at different levels of service, and the practical steps providers should take to document eligibility correctly.

The Scope of Family Legal Aid Post-LASPO

Before assessing financial eligibility, the starting question is whether the matter is within scope at all. LASPO removed most private law family matters from the scope of civil legal aid. The key exception is that private law family cases — primarily private law children proceedings and financial remedy cases — remain in scope where the client satisfies a specified gateway condition relating to domestic abuse or child abuse.

Public law family cases — principally care and supervision proceedings initiated by a local authority — were not removed from scope. They remain available without a domestic abuse gateway.

Matters That Remain in Scope

Public law children (s.31 Children Act 1989 care and supervision proceedings, and associated applications)
Private law children where the client is a victim of domestic abuse or child abuse and satisfies the relevant gateway evidence requirement
Financial remedy proceedings where the domestic abuse gateway is satisfied
Forced marriage protection orders and Female Genital Mutilation Protection Orders
Injunctions under Part IV Family Law Act 1996 (non-molestation orders, occupation orders — these are not gated by the domestic abuse evidence requirement in the same way)
Adoption proceedings
Special guardianship orders (as a party to care proceedings)

The Domestic Abuse Gateway Evidence

For private law children and financial remedy cases, the client must provide evidence of domestic abuse from one of the prescribed sources set out in Regulation 33 of the Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) Regulations 2012 (as amended). This includes:

A conviction or caution for a domestic abuse offence against the client
A protective injunction (e.g. a non-molestation order or restraining order)
A referral from an Independent Domestic Violence Adviser (IDVA) or Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC)
A letter or report from a health professional who has treated the client for domestic abuse-related injury
An undertaking to the court in lieu of a non-molestation order
Evidence of a relevant claim or benefit relating to domestic abuse
A police caution, charge, or ongoing investigation

The evidence must be current — this generally means within the preceding 24 months, although the LAA has some discretion. Providers must retain a copy of the gateway evidence on the file; it is one of the first things checked on audit.

Financial Eligibility: The Means Test

Family legal aid applicants must satisfy a means test covering both income and capital. The test differs slightly depending on the level of service (Legal Help versus Legal Representation).

Passporting Benefits

Clients who receive certain income-based benefits automatically satisfy the income means test and are not required to undergo a full income assessment:

Universal Credit (income component, where no earned income exceeds the prescribed threshold)
Income Support
Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
Pension Credit (Guarantee Credit element)
Scottish Choices Tenancy Support (Scotland only)

Even passported clients must satisfy the capital test. Passporting on income does not exempt the client from the capital assessment.

Income Assessment for Non-Passported Clients

For clients who are not in receipt of a passporting benefit, a full income assessment is required. The means test works as follows:

Step 1 — Gross monthly income. Start with the client’s total gross monthly income from all sources: employment, self-employment, benefits (not passporting benefits), pensions, rental income, maintenance, and any regular income from third parties.

Step 2 — Apply deductions. Deduct the following from gross monthly income:

Income tax (on the employment/self-employment component)
National Insurance contributions
Housing costs (mortgage or rent), subject to a cap of £545/month
Childcare costs for dependent children
Maintenance payments to a former partner or to children not in the household
A fixed allowance for each dependent child (currently £222.76/child/month)
A fixed allowance for each dependent adult in the household

Step 3 — Calculate disposable income. The result is the client’s monthly disposable income.

The thresholds (as of 2025):

Below £733/month: eligible for Legal Help (no contribution required)
£733–£1,712/month: eligible for Legal Representation; a monthly contribution may be required
Above £2,657/month: not eligible (the limit rises to £3,500 for clients with four or more dependent children)

Where a client’s disposable income falls in the contribution band (£733–£1,712), the LAA calculates a monthly contribution based on a sliding scale. The client must pay this contribution for the duration of the funded case; failure to pay can result in revocation of the funding certificate.

The Capital Assessment

In addition to income, clients must satisfy a capital test. Capital is assessed by reference to the client’s total capital assets:

Bank and building society accounts (all)
Premium bonds and savings
Shares and investments
Value of any real property owned (with certain disregards)
Any other capital assets

The main disregards:

The “home disregard” for the client’s main dwelling: where the client’s interest in their home is their only capital asset, the first £100,000 of equity is disregarded. This means many clients with modest equity pass the capital test even if their home is worth a significant sum.
Tools of trade: capital tied up in business equipment that is essential to the client’s livelihood
Personal injury compensation that has been ring-fenced

The capital limit: For most civil legal aid, the capital limit is £8,000. For capital above that threshold, the matter is not funded (unless the subject matter of the dispute disregard applies — see below).

Subject matter of dispute disregard: In certain property-related proceedings, the value of the property in dispute can be disregarded in the capital assessment. This applies primarily in financial remedy cases where the family home is the subject of the proceedings. However, this disregard does not apply automatically — the provider must assess whether it applies and document the decision.

Public Law Children: A Different Means Test

Clients who are respondent parents in care proceedings (s.31 Children Act 1989) benefit from non-means-tested and non-merits-tested Legal Representation. This is one of the few remaining areas of civil legal aid that is available without any financial eligibility test.

The rationale is that care proceedings involve the state seeking to remove children from parental care — the stakes are sufficiently high that access to funded legal representation should not be gated by means. In practice this means that where a local authority issues care proceedings, the parents (including those with no parental responsibility who are joined as parties) are automatically entitled to publicly funded representation.

For the legal aid provider, this simplifies the eligibility process considerably: there is no means form to complete, no passporting benefit to verify, no capital calculation to perform. The provider needs the representation order and the file reference, and can proceed with the funded work.

Family Help and the Level of Service

Family legal aid comes in different levels of service, each with slightly different eligibility implications.

Legal Help

Legal Help covers initial advice and assistance — typically pre-proceedings advice, explaining options, advising on the merits of applying for a non-molestation order, or providing limited support during mediation. The income threshold for Legal Help is the same as for other civil legal aid: disposable income must be below £733/month (or the client must be passported).

In the family context, Legal Help is commonly used to fund attendance at a MIAM (Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting) and initial advice to clients about whether court proceedings are appropriate.

Family Help (Lower)

Family Help (Lower) covers advice and assistance in private family law cases, including representation at MIAMs and support during mediation. It is available to clients who satisfy both the means test and the domestic abuse gateway (where applicable).

Family Help (Higher) and Full Representation

Full Representation covers representation in family proceedings — from issuing applications through to final hearing. The financial eligibility test is the same as for Legal Help (the disposable income and capital thresholds), but an additional merits test applies.

For most private law family cases, the merits test is relatively relaxed: the LAA applies the “prospects of success” test, but in domestic abuse-related cases the focus is often less on prospects of obtaining a court order and more on whether the case is sufficiently serious to warrant the use of public funds.

For public law cases, there is no merits test (in addition to there being no means test for respondents).

Contributions and the Statutory Charge

Monthly Contributions

Where a client has a disposable income in the contribution band, a monthly contribution is assessed by the LAA. The contribution is collected directly by the LAA, not by the provider. Providers are not required to chase unpaid contributions — that is the LAA’s responsibility — but they should record that the contribution assessment has been made and communicated to the client.

The Statutory Charge

The statutory charge is a mechanism by which the LAA recoups the costs of legal aid from any money or property recovered or preserved as a result of the funded proceedings. In family cases, this most commonly arises in financial remedy proceedings where a client receives a property settlement.

The statutory charge is often misunderstood by clients, and failure to explain it clearly at the outset is an audit finding and a potential negligence issue. Best practice is to explain the statutory charge in writing at the matter opening stage, using clear and accessible language that the client can understand. The LAA has published a model form for this purpose.

Documenting Eligibility: The Audit Trail

A family legal aid matter that is not properly documented at the outset is an audit liability. The key documents that should be on every family legal aid file are:

Completed CIViCAM means assessment (or record of passporting benefit with evidence)
Copy of passporting benefit evidence (DWP letter, UC statement, etc.) where applicable
Gateway evidence for private law matters (domestic abuse evidence from a prescribed source)
MIAM attendance certificate or evidence of MIAM exemption (for private law matters where a MIAM exemption is claimed)
Copy of funding certificate (for certificated work)
Explanation of the statutory charge (signed by client or with a note that verbal explanation was given)

Obiter helps family law teams stay on top of these obligations by prompting for gateway and means evidence at matter opening, flagging missing documentation before it becomes an audit finding, and automatically recording the statutory charge explanation as a completed task on the file.

Family Legal Aid: Understanding Financial Eligibility Tests