Evidence for Legal Aid
Key Takeaways
- Legal aid for family mediation is means-tested only, so the evidence for legal aid is purely financial. There is no merits test and no need to prove abuse.
- Legal aid for a solicitor is a separate scheme with a separate gateway. You will need qualifying evidence, and you will also need to be financially eligible.
- Almost every application needs the same core set: three months of bank statements for every account, recent payslips or a full benefit statement, proof of savings, and your National Insurance number.
- There is no longer any time limit on how old domestic abuse evidence can be. The old 24 month rule was removed.
- Incomplete paperwork is the single most common cause of delay, so send everything together rather than in pieces.
The evidence for legal aid falls into two groups. For family mediation you only need financial evidence: recent payslips or a full benefit statement, three months of bank statements for every account you hold, proof of any savings or property, and your National Insurance number. For a solicitor in a private family case you need that same financial evidence, plus gateway evidence, which is usually evidence of domestic abuse or of a risk to a child.
Working out what evidence for legal aid you actually need is the part that stalls most applications, and it is usually the easiest part to put right. The rules themselves are not complicated. The problem is that people gather the wrong documents, send a screenshot instead of a full statement, or apply under the wrong scheme entirely.
Before you photocopy anything, check which scheme you are applying under, because the two are not the same. Legal aid for family mediation has a much simpler test than legal aid for a solicitor, and the paperwork follows from that.
This guide is a practical checklist for both routes. It covers the financial documents you will be asked for, what counts as domestic abuse evidence, how recent everything has to be, and the small mistakes that send applications back to the bottom of the pile.
Does the Evidence for Legal Aid Depend on Which Type You Need?
Yes, and this is where most of the confusion starts. There are two separate schemes with two separate tests:
- Legal aid for family mediation: financial evidence only.
- Legal aid for a solicitor: gateway evidence plus financial evidence.
Legal aid for family mediation is means-tested and nothing else. If your income and capital are within the limits, you qualify, whether or not there has ever been abuse in your relationship. It was never withdrawn, and Ministry of Justice figures show legal aid mediation starts rose 37% in 2024/25, the highest level in twelve years.
Legal aid for a solicitor is a different matter. It was withdrawn for most private family cases on 1 April 2013, when the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 came into force. It is now available mainly through a gateway, principally domestic abuse or child safety, and the applicant must also pass the means test and a merits test. Evidence on its own does not qualify anyone.
| Type of legal aid | Financial evidence? | Gateway evidence? |
|---|---|---|
| Family mediation | Yes | No |
| Solicitor, private family case | Yes | Yes, usually domestic abuse or child protection |
| Care proceedings brought by social services | No, automatic for parents | No |
How the tests differ across the main types of family legal aid in England and Wales, as of August 2026. Full eligibility guidance is on GOV.UK.
What Legal Aid Financial Evidence Do I Need to Provide?
The legal aid financial evidence is the same core set whichever scheme you apply under, because both use a means test. You are proving three things: what comes in, what you hold, and who you are.
Which Documents Prove My Income?
What you send depends on how you are paid:
- On Universal Credit: your most recent full Universal Credit statement, showing your name, the payment date and the amount. All pages, not a cropped screenshot of the total.
- On another passporting benefit: a recent DWP award letter, or a bank statement showing the benefit arriving. Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance and Guarantee Credit all passport you through the income test.
- Employed: your last three payslips, or your last three months of wage payments on a bank statement if payslips are not available.
- Self-employed: your most recent year-end accounts, or your self-assessment tax return and the tax calculation from HMRC, plus business bank statements.
- Other income: pensions, maintenance you receive, rental income, dividends or student finance all count and all need proof.
- Everyone: three months of bank statements for every account you hold, including accounts with no money in them.
Being on a passporting benefit is not the same as automatic legal aid. It clears the income test, but you still have to pass the capital test, so someone on Universal Credit with £12,000 in savings would not qualify.
Which Documents Prove My Savings and Capital?
The capital limit is £8,000 after the allowed disregards. The means test documents for capital usually include:
- Statements for any savings accounts, ISAs, premium bonds or investments.
- Details of any property you own, including a recent valuation or an estimate, and your outstanding mortgage balance.
- Evidence of any lump sum you have received, such as redundancy or an inheritance.
- Your National Insurance number. An application cannot be processed without it.
Owning a home does not automatically rule you out. Up to £100,000 of your mortgage is deducted when your equity is worked out, and where the property is the very thing you are mediating about, a further disregard of up to £100,000 can apply. Household contents, personal belongings and a car in everyday use are not usually counted. The current limits are published in the GOV.UK civil legal aid means testing guidance.
Will I Need to Provide Evidence for My Partner Too?
Usually, yes. If you live with a new partner, their income and capital are added to yours and the combined figures are tested, which is called aggregation. The important exception is the person you are separating from: if they are the other participant in the mediation, their finances are assessed entirely separately from yours. That is why it is common for one of you to qualify and the other not.
Our free checker applies the current Legal Aid Agency rules to your own figures in a few minutes, and tells you which documents apply to your answers. No phone call needed.
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How Recent Does My Proof for a Legal Aid Application Have to Be?
Financial evidence has to be current. As a rule, bank statements should cover the last three months, and payslips and benefit statements should be your most recent. A statement from six months ago will not be accepted, because the assessment is of your finances now.
There is a second timing point that catches people out. An assessment does not stay live indefinitely. At Mediate UK, if more than 30 days pass between completing the eligibility assessment and your appointment going ahead, we have to start again with fresh documents. It is not red tape for its own sake, it is because your circumstances may have changed. The practical answer is to check your eligibility close to the point where you are ready to book your MIAM, rather than months in advance.
“The most common reason an application slows down is not that someone does not qualify, it is that a document is missing or partial. We see cropped screenshots of a benefit total, one bank account sent when there are three, or payslips without the bank statements to match them. Send everything in one go and most assessments are confirmed within a few working days.”
Jess Knauf, Director of Client Strategy, Mediate UK
What Domestic Abuse Evidence Is Accepted for Legal Aid?
This section applies to the solicitor route only. If you need a solicitor in a private family case, the domestic abuse evidence legal aid gateway is how most people get through the door. The accepted list is broader than most people expect, and includes:
- A non-molestation order, occupation order or other protective injunction, or an undertaking given to a court.
- A Domestic Abuse Protection Notice or Order.
- A police caution, arrest, charge, conviction or bail conditions relating to a domestic abuse offence.
- A letter or report from a GP, nurse, midwife, health visitor or other health professional.
- A health professional’s referral to a domestic abuse support service.
- A MARAC letter, or a letter from an IDVA or ISVA confirming they are supporting you.
- A letter from a domestic abuse support organisation or refuge, including a letter refusing admission because they were full.
- A letter from a local authority, housing association or housing officer.
- A finding of fact made by a court.
- Evidence of economic abuse, such as being prevented from accessing your own money.
Domestic abuse covers coercive and controlling behaviour, emotional abuse and economic abuse, not only physical violence. The Legal Aid Agency publishes sample letters you can give to a GP or support worker, and the full list sits in its evidence requirements guidance for private family law matters.
Is There a Time Limit on Domestic Abuse Evidence?
No. The old rule that evidence had to be less than 24 months old, and before that five years old, was removed. If your evidence dates back years, it still counts. Plenty of online articles have not caught up with this, so if you read that your evidence is too old, check the date of the article.
Can I Get Legal Aid for a Non-Molestation Order?
There is no court fee to apply for a non-molestation or occupation order. Applying is free. What you may pay for is a solicitor to prepare and present the application, and that is where legal aid comes in.
For these protective applications the Legal Aid Agency can waive the upper income and capital limits, although a contribution may still be asked for. Where someone is at immediate risk, funding can also be granted urgently, with the financial checks completed afterwards. If you are in danger now, do not wait to gather paperwork first. Contact a solicitor or the police, and sort the evidence afterwards.
How Should I Send My Legal Aid Supporting Documents?
Getting the legal aid supporting documents right first time is mostly about being thorough rather than being quick. Four steps cover it:
| 1 | Check your eligibility before you gather anything. The free legal aid eligibility checker takes a few minutes and tells you which documents actually apply to your situation, so you are not photocopying things nobody needs. |
| 2 | Send complete documents, not extracts. Every page of a bank statement, the full benefit statement rather than a screenshot of the amount, and every account you hold rather than the main one. |
| 3 | Check names and dates are visible. A statement with your name cut off, or a photo where the date is blurred, will come back to you. PDFs downloaded from your banking app are usually cleaner than photographs. |
| 4 | Send it all at once. An assessment cannot start until the file is complete, so drip-feeding documents over a fortnight adds a fortnight. |
One more thing worth knowing: you do not apply to the Legal Aid Agency yourself for mediation. Only services holding an LAA contract can assess you and claim the funding, and Family Mediation Council figures suggest the number of mediators offering legal aid has roughly halved since 2018, with around 238 remaining in 2025. Mediate UK is a Legal Aid Agency contracted provider, so we can carry out the assessment and, if you qualify, provide your mediation fully funded.
If you do not qualify, mediation is still within reach. The £500 family mediation voucher scheme is not means-tested at all, so no financial evidence is needed for it, though it only applies where child arrangements are part of the case. Our costs and payments page sets out the fees if you are self-funding, and if a court application follows, help with court fees using the EX160 form is a separate scheme with its own, much shorter, evidence list.
Need legal advice but do not qualify for funded help?
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Summary
The legal aid evidence requirements come down to which scheme you need. For family mediation the test is financial and nothing else, so your evidence is payslips or a full benefit statement, three months of statements for every bank account, proof of savings and property, and your National Insurance number.
For a solicitor in a private family case you need gateway evidence as well, most often domestic abuse evidence, and you also need to be financially eligible. The accepted list of abuse evidence is wide, it includes letters from GPs, refuges, housing officers and support workers, and there is no time limit on how old it can be.
Whichever route applies, the practical advice is the same. Complete documents, recent dates, everything sent together. The quickest way to find out where you stand is to put your own figures into our legal aid guide checker before you commit to anything.
Frequently Asked Questions
Financial evidence only. You need proof of income, which is either recent payslips or your most recent full benefit statement, three months of bank statements for every account you hold, proof of any savings, investments or property, and your National Insurance number. No evidence of abuse is needed for mediation legal aid.
Three months, for every account in your name, including accounts with a nil or very low balance. Full statements are needed rather than screenshots, and downloading a PDF from your banking app is usually clearer than a photograph.
No. Legal aid for family mediation is means-tested only. If your income and capital are within the limits you can qualify, whether or not there has been abuse. The domestic abuse evidence requirement applies to legal aid for a solicitor, which is a separate scheme.
Almost certainly not. The time limit was removed, so there is no longer a 24 month or five year cut-off on domestic abuse evidence for legal aid. Older letters, court orders and police records still count.
Say so early rather than delaying the whole application. Missing payslips can often be covered by bank statements showing the wages arriving, and a benefit award letter can often be replaced by a statement from your online account. Tell whoever is assessing you what you cannot get and why.
With complete evidence, usually a few working days. The most common delay is partial paperwork, so sending everything requested in one go is the single biggest thing you can do to speed it up.
You Might Also Find Helpful
| What happens at a MIAM The first meeting explained, including how long it takes and what the mediator will ask you. |
How family mediation works A complete guide to the process, from the first meeting to a written agreement. |
| Financial disclosure on divorce The separate set of financial documents you will need for the settlement itself. |
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Mediate UK is a Legal Aid Agency contracted provider. Our free checker applies the current rules to your figures in minutes and tells you exactly which documents you will need.
Mediate UK works closely with trusted legal professionals to ensure your agreements are legally robust. Our partners include DFA Law LLP (agreements managed by SRA-regulated solicitor Rachel Adams, SRA 452750), independent barristers at St Ives Chambers (including Charmian Jackson, registered with the Bar Standards Board), and The Family Law Consultant (managed by SRA-regulated solicitor Rhiannon Compton, SRA 600560). These legal professionals support our clients with consent orders, independent advice, and final barrister reviews.
