More women will die as a result of changes to the legal aid system, so claims the director of one of Wiltshire’s largest refuges for victims of domestic violence.

Olwen Kelly, who is the director of Swindon Women’s Aid, providing support for women across Wiltshire and the South West, has launched an out- spoken attack on the reforms.

“These changes are having a devastating and disproportionate effect on women,” she said.

“The difficulties in even applying to get legal aid mean more women are at greater risk of harm from violent partners.

“Women are more likely to remain in violent relationships if they know they are not going to be able to get financial support to get access to their children.

“I don’t think it’s too extreme to say more women could lose their lives as a result of these reforms.”

It’s estimated two women a week are killed by their partners or ex-partners nationwide.

The claim that those numbers could rise comes eight months after changes to the legal aid system were brought in to save £350 million.

From April 1, access to legal aid was cut and is no longer available for family law matters such as divorce and child contact, welfare benefits cases, employment issues, clinical negligence cases or for housing law disputes.

Only in very limited circumstances can anyone apply for legal aid. One of those limited circumstances is if a woman, or man, can prove they are a victim of domestic violence.

It seems surprising that a pioneer in the ongoing campaign against domestic violence is saying more women are at risk.

How easy is it to prove you are a victim of domestic violence? And how much will that cost? Women, or men, have to prove their victim status by providing evidence when applying for legal aid, such as a letter from a doctor or social services, a refuge or possibly from a letter from a court if a conviction has been secured.

However, getting hold of this evidence is not always free. Broadly speaking a letter from a GP can cost up to £50 – some women are apparently claiming they are having to pay these fees to prove their status as a victim.

Olwen said: “These costs may not sound like much, but many women don’t have access to large sums of money and, for some women, being deprived of money is part of the abuse they’ve suffered.”

Her claims are supported by research conducted by Women’s Aid England, the organisation Rights of Women and Welsh Women’s Aid.

Their report, Evidencing domestic violence: a barrier to family law legal aid, collected the results from 370 interviews conducted between April and July this year.

It concludes a high proportion of survivors of domestic violence have been unable to access legal aid in the family courts.

This, the charities say, contradicts the government’s pledge that legal aid would be available. The report claims:

  • Half of the respondents do not have the prescribed forms of evidence needed to access family law legal aid;
  • 61 per cent took no action in the family courts because of not being able to apply for legal aid;
  • 17 per cent of respondents had to pay more than £50 to obtain copies of the evidence;
  • 38 per cent of respondents had to wait longer than two weeks to get copies of the evidence;
  • 23.7 per cent paid a solicitor privately and 15.8 per cent represented themselves at court.

Olwen spoke of a recent case where a woman from Wiltshire was denied legal aid because, when means-tested, she earned £27 too much.

Olwen is not the only dissenting voice in Wiltshire. Family law specialist Cindy Ervine is part of the Devizes company Awdry, Bailey & Douglas. She’s also on the management committee for Splitz, an organisation based in Trowbridge which provides support for families affected by domestic violence.

Cindy said: “I don’t think it’s too extreme to say more women could lose their lives.

“The client who will be the most affected will be the person who is the most timid. She may have never spoken to anyone about her situation. She may not have spoken to the police or social services and it’s taken all of her courage to share her story with a solicitor.

“To then be told that it might cost her thousands of pounds and she has to provide this or that evidence to get legal aid – she may well go back home and wish she’d never spoken out.”

Another criticism of the changes to legal aid is that more people will represent themselves in court as they cannot afford a solicitor or barrister.

Some legal professionals have claimed this will lead to more adjournments and delays due to the inexperience of these so-called ‘litigants in person’. Olwen knows of two recent cases in Swindon where a judge stopped the hearing as he was not confident that the person knew, or understood, what was happening.

She said: “There are effects which have not been thought through but are now having an impact.

“For example, if a violent partner is brought into the court and cannot get legal aid, that person could end up representing their own case.

“We could have a situation where a victim of domestic violence is cross-examined by the alleged perpetrator of that violence. That victim is then re-victimised.”

Another effect is the limited amount of law firms now offering legal aid. “We’ve already had situations where we’ve had to deal with lawyers in London, often loathe to travel to Swindon and we’ve even had a case where a lawyer from London didn’t turn up,” Olwen said.

  • Several Wiltshire lawyers, including Cindy Ervine, are part of Resolution, an organisation which helps families find mediation and alternatives to going to court.
  • Family Dispute Resolution Week begins on Monday to raise awareness of mediation and non-confrontational support – details are available at 
  • Swindon Women’s Aid can be contacted at www.swindonwomensaid.org or (01793) 610610. It provides help across Wiltshire.
  • Splitz can be contacted at (01225) 777724 or www.splitz.org