Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will take steps to help support parents with the costs of the Family Court system.

The Government is already taking steps to ensure that financial hardship does not prevent parents from engaging with the family court system. To support access to justice, the Help with Fees scheme provides full or partial remission of court and tribunal fees for those on low incomes or in receipt of certain benefits. This includes applications made in the family courts such as applications for child arrangement orders.

Legal aid is available in some private family matters, including for individuals experiencing or at risk of domestic abuse; for individuals (for example, parents) where the child who is the subject of the order is a victim of child abuse or at risk of abuse; people under the age of 18; in certain cases of international or domestic abduction; for family mediation where there is a family dispute and for certain urgent protection applications – for example, non-molestation orders. To be eligible for legal aid means and merits tests and evidence requirements also usually need to be met.

Legal aid is also available for parents, those with parental responsibility, children and third parties (such as grandparents) in certain public family proceedings, subject to meeting the relevant means and merits tests.

Beyond legal aid, the Ministry of Justice is providing funding to support the delivery of wider legal support services, which provide advice and support to individuals facing social welfare legal problems, including family matters. In 2025-26 the Ministry of Justice will provide over £6 million of grant funding to 60 frontline organisations to improve access to free legal support and information, both in-person and online, and to help people resolve their problems as early as possible. This includes funding for organisations including some local Citizens Advice and Law Centres, as well as AdviceNow, which provides online support on their website across a range of civil, family and tribunal issues.

The Government recognises the importance of supporting separating families to, where appropriate, resolve their issues without the need to come to court. The Mediation Voucher Scheme provides up to £500 towards the cost of mediation to help families resolve their child arrangement disputes outside of court, where this is safe and appropriate. The voucher is non-means tested and is available to anyone with a private law dispute relating to children. The scheme will be in place until at least March 2026 and has helped over 44,000 families to date.