Who will be involved in the care proceedings?

But what is legal aid and how does it work?

Legal aid is the use of government money to pay for people to receive legal advice and representation.

A parents whose child is subject of care proceedings automatically get free legal aid. This is to cover the cost of a solicitor advising and representing them. And to cover other costs relating to their case. Examples include the cost of interpreters or of having an expert prepare an assessment report.

Other people with parental responsibility for a child who is the subject to care proceedings is also entitled to free legal aid.

This type of legal aid parents (and others with parental responsibility) get is called non-means and non-merits tested legal aid.

This means it does not matter what the parent earns, or what savings they have. And it does not matter how strong their case is. They will still receive free legal aid for their case.

Other people involved in care proceedings may be able to receive legal aid. But this will be means and merits tested.

This means that whether they get legal will only happen if they can meet two tests:

1. A means test

This involves looking at their financial situation. Their income and savings must be below a set level to qualify for legal aid. A solicitor will need to do a financial assessment. This will involve looking at the person’s bank statements for the last three months

2. A merits test

This means the person wanting legal aid will have to demonstrate that they have a good case. To work out if they do, a solicitor must look at whether the person is likely to be successful in getting what they want in the case. To do this the solicitor has to ask themselves this question – ‘Would a reasonable person would use their own money to pay for the case?’. If they think the answer is yes, then the merits test will be met.

A specialist children law solicitor will be able give advice about whether someone is eligible for legal aid. To find a solicitor, search using the ‘how to find a solicitor’ function on the Law Society website.  Look for someone who is a child law specialist. Or who has Children Law Accreditation. For information about working with a solicitor, please see our top tips guide Working with a solicitor.