Family legal aid in England and Wales, explained properly. Two schemes, two tests, and the current figures with their sources.
Start here
There are two separate legal aid schemes in family law, and almost everything that goes wrong comes from treating them as one. Legal aid for mediation is means tested and nothing else. Legal aid for a solicitor needs a gateway as well. Being refused one tells you nothing about the other.
Which of these are you?
Mediation legal aid is means tested only, and if you qualify it is genuinely free with nothing to pay back. The £500 voucher is not means tested at all.
Legal aid for a solicitor is still available through the domestic abuse and child protection gateways. The evidence accepted is broader than most people expect, and there is no time limit on it.
Most people will not. Check the refusal first, because allowances and the disregard for disputed assets are routinely missed, then look at what else is available.
The four things people most often get wrong
- “Legal aid was abolished in 2013.” It was narrowed, not abolished, and the part that survived intact is family mediation.
- “You need evidence of abuse to get legal aid for mediation.” You do not. That test belongs to the other scheme.
- “I’m on Universal Credit so I’ll get it.” That gets you through the income test. Your capital is assessed in every case.
- “I own a house so I can’t qualify.” Up to £100,000 of an asset you are actually arguing about can be ignored.
This one is free
Mediation legal aid is never a loan. The statutory charge, which is how the government recovers legal aid out of what you keep at the end of a case, does not apply to family mediation at all. Nobody comes back for it out of the house sale.
That is not true of solicitor legal aid, where it often does apply. It is one of the sharpest differences between the two schemes and almost nobody explains it. Why it matters.
The figures
Legal aid means test limits, from 6 April 2026
These apply to controlled work and to family mediation. They are the same test.
| Test | Limit |
|---|---|
| Gross monthly income | £2,657 |
| Extra allowed for the 5th and each further child | £222 |
| Disposable monthly income | £733 |
| Disposable capital | £8,000 |
| Allowance for a partner | £237.25 |
| Allowance for each dependant, any age | £381.86 |
| Employment expenses, if you are employed | £45 |
| Housing cap, if you have no partner or dependants | £545 |
In force from 6 April 2026. Source: Legal Aid Agency, civil legal aid eligibility keycard 62. Checked 5 August 2026. Limits change without much notice, so please confirm the current position before relying on this.
Start with the figures
- The means test, all three parts, and the allowances people forget
- Capital limits, and the disregards that change the answer
- Passporting benefits, a shorter list than it was in March
- The £500 voucher, which has no financial test at all
- Help with Fees, a separate scheme and the most missed money of all
Why this site exists
Family legal aid is explained badly almost everywhere. Two schemes get described as one. People are told funding was abolished when it was not. Guidance published this year still lists benefits that were abolished in April.
So every figure here is stored once with the date it takes effect and a link to the source, next to the figure rather than in a list at the bottom. The site is reviewed every three months. And where the official sources contradict each other, which is happening in two places right now, we say so instead of picking one and hoping.
Every source we use, with the date it was last checked. About this site, and where the name came from.
Important information
Legal Aid 60 is an independent information website operated by Family Legal Ltd. It is not GOV.UK, the Legal Aid Agency or a government service, and it cannot decide whether you qualify for legal aid. Only the Legal Aid Agency, or a provider acting under its contract, can do that.
Use the official checker at GOV.UK, check if you can get legal aid.