The short answer
The means test has three parts: your gross monthly income against a cap, your disposable income after allowances against a lower cap, and your capital. You have to pass all three. Most people who wrongly rule themselves out do it because they look at gross pay and stop, without taking off the allowances for a partner, children and housing.
Key points
- Three separate hurdles: gross income, disposable income, capital. Failing any one is a refusal.
- Allowances come off before the disposable income test. A partner, each dependant, housing costs, tax and national insurance.
- A partner’s income counts with yours, unless they are the other side in your case.
- Capital is where most people fail, and the disregard for disputed assets is where most people should not have.
- The test is the same for mediation legal aid and for solicitor legal aid. What differs is the scope test that comes first.
Step one: your gross monthly income
Everything coming in, before tax: wages, self-employed profit, benefits, maintenance you receive, pension income, rental income. If you live with a partner, theirs too.
If that total is above the cap, the assessment usually stops there. There is one adjustment: families with more than four dependent children get a higher cap.
The exception is a passporting benefit. If you receive one, you pass both income parts automatically without the arithmetic.
The figures
Benefits that get you through the income test
If you are properly receiving one of these, you pass the income part of the means test automatically. The list is shorter than it was, because two of the benefits on it no longer exist.
| Benefit | Position now |
|---|---|
| Universal Credit | Passports you |
| Pension Credit, the guarantee credit part | Passports you |
| Income-related Employment and Support Allowance | Ended on 1 July 2026, except for people who need an appointee and certain vulnerable claimants |
| Income Support | Abolished on 1 April 2026 |
| Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance | Abolished on 1 April 2026 |
A passporting benefit gets you through the income test only. Your savings and capital are assessed in every case, whatever benefit you are on.
The regulation still lists five benefits, but Income Support and income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance were abolished by SI 2025/1148 and income-related ESA by SI 2026/409, as people moved across to Universal Credit. Underlying rule: regulation 6(2). Checked 5 August 2026.
Step two: your disposable income
This is the part people miss, and it is where the answer often changes. Disposable income is not what is left in your account at the end of the month. It is a defined calculation, and the deductions are generous.
Taken off your gross income: income tax and national insurance, your housing costs up to a cap if you have no partner or dependants, a fixed allowance for a partner, a fixed allowance for each dependant whatever their age, and a fixed amount for employment expenses if you are employed.
Two children and a mortgage move the number a long way. Someone who assumed they earned far too much can be comfortably inside the disposable income limit.
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.
Step three: your capital
Savings, investments, money in accounts, valuable possessions, and equity in property including the home you live in. Being on a passporting benefit does not get you past this part. Capital is assessed in every single case.
This is the most common reason for refusal, and also the part where people most often rule themselves out wrongly, because of the rule below.
The figures
The capital limit, and the extra allowance if you are 60 or over
The disposable capital limit is £8,000 for every kind of civil legal aid except immigration representation. Being on a benefit does not get you past it. Capital is assessed in every case.
If you are 60 or over and your monthly disposable income, ignoring anything your savings earn, is under £315, some of your capital is ignored on a sliding scale.
| Monthly disposable income | Capital ignored |
|---|---|
| On a passporting benefit, or up to £25 | £100,000 |
| £26 to £50 | £90,000 |
| £51 to £75 | £80,000 |
| £76 to £100 | £70,000 |
| £101 to £125 | £60,000 |
| £126 to £150 | £50,000 |
| £151 to £175 | £40,000 |
| £176 to £200 | £30,000 |
| £201 to £225 | £20,000 |
| £226 to £315 | £10,000 |
| Over £315 | Nothing |
Source: regulation 41 of the Civil Legal Aid (Financial Resources and Payment for Services) Regulations 2013, and keycard 62 for the £8,000 limit. Checked 5 August 2026.
The rule that changes the most answers
If the asset is the thing you are arguing about, a large part of it can be ignored. That is the point of the disregard, and it exists precisely for the situation where a divorcing couple are fighting over a house that on paper makes them both ineligible.
The figures
Assets you are arguing about can be ignored, up to £100,000
This is the rule that surprises people most. If the house or the savings are the very thing in dispute, the Legal Aid Agency can leave a large part of them out of the calculation. It is called the subject matter of the dispute disregard.
| Rule | How it works |
|---|---|
| Maximum ignored | £100,000 |
| What it applies to | Capital only. Income can never be treated this way |
| What counts as in dispute | An asset actually being claimed in the proceedings, not simply one you own |
| A jointly owned asset in dispute | You are treated as owning half of it |
Where the family home is in dispute, three things are done in this order: the mortgage is taken off to find the equity, then up to £100,000 of your share of that equity is ignored as the disputed asset, then a further equity disregard of up to £100,000 is applied to whatever is left.
Source: Lord Chancellor’s guidance on determining financial eligibility for controlled work and family mediation, section 7.4. That is the right source for mediation. The Means Assessment Guidance covers certificated work and says so. Checked 5 August 2026.
Common and costly mistake
Aggregating your ex’s income with yours. If your partner is the other side in your case, their money is not counted with yours. People still living under the same roof as the person they are divorcing routinely add the two incomes together, conclude they are miles over the limit, and never apply.
How to check properly
Do not rely on this page for a decision, and do not rely on any website for one. Only the Legal Aid Agency, or a provider acting under its contract, can decide.
- Check if you can get legal aid on GOV.UK, the official checker.
- Mediate UK’s eligibility calculator, which takes about a minute and is aimed at mediation. Mediate UK is run by the same company as this site and holds a Legal Aid Agency contract. Eligibility and case suitability are still decided case by case.
Have to hand: recent payslips or accounts, bank statements, any benefit award letters, your rent or mortgage figure, and a rough value of any savings and property.