The short answer
Everything here is written by a named person, reviewed by a named person, sourced to primary material, and reviewed every three months. No figure is ever typed into an article: every threshold is stored once, centrally, with its effective date and source, so it can be updated everywhere at once.
Key points
- Written by Jess Knauf. Reviewed by Belinda Atkins, editorially.
- Neither is a solicitor, and we never present them as one.
- Sources are linked next to the claim, not collected at the bottom.
- Three month review cycle, not the usual six or twelve.
- No figure is hard-coded into any page. Every one is a stored, dated value.
- We publish the disagreements between official sources rather than picking one.
Who writes and who reviews
Jess Knauf, Director of Client Strategy at Family Legal Ltd, writes the content.
Belinda Atkins, Managing Director of Family Legal Ltd, is the editorial reviewer.
Belinda reviews editorially. She is not a practising family mediator or a solicitor, and this site does not describe her as a legal reviewer. We are specific about that because vague reviewer credentials are a way of borrowing authority nobody has.
Since neither author nor reviewer is legally qualified, the weight has to be carried by sourcing. That is why every factual claim links to the legislation, the Legal Aid Agency or GOV.UK at the point the claim is made.
How figures are handled
This is the part that makes the site maintainable, and it is unusual enough to be worth explaining.
No number is written into the text of an article. Each threshold, limit, fee and voucher amount is stored once as a single block, together with the date it takes effect, the source, a link to that source, and a line telling you to confirm the current position. Pages pull that block in.
So when the means test changes next April, it is changed in one place and every page that quotes it is correct the same minute. Nothing is left stale in an article somebody forgot about.
Review cycle
The whole site is reviewed every three months. Most information sites review annually. Legal aid does not stand still for a year: thresholds change each April, benefits get abolished, and the voucher scheme has been extended repeatedly at short notice and could end.
Each page carries the date of its next review. If you are reading this well past that date, treat the figures with suspicion and check the source we have linked.
What we will not publish
- An eligibility decision. This site cannot decide whether you qualify and never suggests it can.
- A figure we cannot source, or one where the official sources conflict. Where they conflict we say so and explain both.
- “Free divorce” or “free solicitor” content. Misleading in the way those queries are usually meant.
- Criminal, housing, immigration or benefits legal aid. Different schemes. Family only.
- Scottish or Northern Irish legal aid. Entirely separate systems.
- Location pages. We are not a provider and a page pretending otherwise would be thin and misleading.
- Reproduced government guidance. We explain and link instead.
Independence
Family Legal Ltd also operates Mediate UK. That relationship is disclosed wherever it could matter, we take no payment for recommendations, and we link to neutral directories and to free services ahead of ourselves where that is the better answer. How we make money.