header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us

Fund advice as well as mediation, lawyers urge

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
19 January 2022
Issue: 7963 / Categories: Legal News , Profession , Family , Mediation
printer mail-detail
Solicitors have welcomed the Ministry of Justice’s (MoJ’s) decision to invest an additional £1.3m into the family mediation voucher scheme, but reiterated calls for legal aid funding to be restored

Under the voucher scheme, which launched in March 2021 and is administered by the Family Mediation Council (FMC), families are given £500 towards the cost of mediation. According to the MoJ, 4,400 vouchers have been used, 77% of cases reached full or partial agreements and 49% would not have considered mediation without the voucher.

Law Society president I Stephanie Boyce said: ‘Steps to address the backlog in the family court system are helpful.

‘However, data shows a straight line between the removal of private family proceedings from the scope of legal aid funding and a reduction in mediations. We have repeatedly said early legal advice for family law cases―cut by LASPO (the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act) in 2013―should be restored.’

Issue: 7963 / Categories: Legal News , Profession , Family , Mediation
printer mail-details

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

London labour and employment team announces partner hire

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion

NEWS
Read All
Public Accounts Committee warn of ‘extinction’ risk for legal aid
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not done enough to protect the future sustainability of the legal aid market, MPs have warned
NLJ this week: The insider returns
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
NLJ this week: Drawing the line on contempt
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
NLJ this week: Stop and search by the numbers
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
NLJ this week: Looking back on the prorogation that never was
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll