Legal Aid

Legal Aid is provided by the government to cover the cost of family mediation services for families in dispute.

That means if you are on a low income (see below) and have limited savings (less than £8000) the costs of your mediation will be met by the government.

You will most easily be eligible if you receive one of the following “passported” benefits:

Universal Credit / Income Support / Income-based Job Seeker’s Allowance / Income-related Employment and Support Allowance / Guaranteed Pension Credit.

For those benefits all we need is either:

• If you receive Universal Credit; your most recent Statement showing your name and address, the payment date and amount. This Statement can be found in the Payments section of your online Universal Credit account.
• For the other benefits; all pages of your letter from the DWP showing details of you most recent payment. Or, if you do not have this, then a letter from the Benefits Agency explaining what type of benefit you receive which is dated within the last 6 months.

Alternatively, you need to add up all your monthly income from any source e.g. wages, tax credits, child support payments, child benefit (for you and your partner if living together). Your combined gross income needs to be £2657 or less.

Then take-off various allowances as follows:

• Tax and National Insurance paid if you are working
• £381.86 per child (if living with you)
• £237.25 for any partner living with
• Housing costs which are rent or mortgage only (minus any Housing Benefit and capped at £545 if there are no children living with you)
• Childcare costs associated with work
• Child support payments you are making
• Standard employment allowance of £45

If you are left with £733 or less per month it is likely you will be eligible for legal aid.

Important Notes

• Even if you are in receipt of a ‘passported benefit’ you also need to have savings of less than £8,000.
• Also, if you own your house, the value of that is taken into account, but there are quite generous allowances in regard to this – please discuss with your mediator.

If you want the first meeting to be free you must send us information about your finances in advance so that we can assess your eligibility for Legal Aid.

If you are NOT eligible for Legal Aid, the cost of the MIAM (Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting) is £130. (see fees section)