Bar Council calls for legal aid for all family court cases involving domestic abuse

In the year to March 2024, more than 1.2 million women and more than 550,000 men between 16 and 59 are estimated to have been victims of domestic abuse. Photograph: CAMimage/Alamy

The Bar Council has called for all family court cases involving domestic abuse to be brought within the scope of legal aid for both parties, and for means testing to be scrapped for alleged victims and survivors of domestic abuse.

In a new policy paper, the body, which represents all 18,000 barristers in England and Wales, has set out a package of recommendations to improve the ability of the family justice system.