Legal aid in England and Wales: checking scope and eligibility

Legal aid in England and Wales depends on two separate tests: whether your problem is one legal aid covers at all, and whether your income and assets fall within the usual limits. If both are met, legal aid can pay for legal advice and for someone to speak or negotiate for you at a court or tribunal. The rules below are those published for England and Wales; this page does not describe other jurisdictions.

Start with the scope test, because it costs nothing to answer and it rules out whole categories of problem before you look at money at all.

What legal aid can cover

Legal aid is used for problems such as:

homelessness, eviction, losing your home, or serious disrepair
protecting yourself or a child from abuse or harassment, for example domestic abuse or forced marriage
poor quality care you or a family member are receiving because of age, disability or special educational needs
advice on finances, children or divorce after an abusive relationship
a child in your family being at risk of being taken into care
family mediation, for example when deciding child arrangements
discrimination
challenging the way the government has made a decision about you
seeking asylum, or being the victim of human trafficking
advice where a family member’s death is going to a coroner’s inquest

The published list is illustrative — it says you "might" get help for problems like these, so a case that resembles one of them is not automatically in scope.

What legal aid does not cover

Three common areas are excluded, each with a narrow exception:

Usually excluded	When it may still be covered
Debt problems	If you might lose your home
Employment disputes	If you are being discriminated against
Appealing benefits decisions	If you are appealing to the Upper Tribunal, Court of Appeal or Supreme Court

The means test: income

You usually have to show that you and your partner either have a joint monthly income of £2,657 or less, before tax and other deductions, or receive a qualifying benefit.

The qualifying benefits are Universal Credit, the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), and Income Support.

A higher income does not automatically end the matter. You might still be eligible if your case is about domestic abuse or forced marriage. Those two grounds are the only income exceptions published on the official page.

The means test: savings, investments and property

You will not usually be eligible if you and your partner have assets of over £8,000. Assets include savings and investments, and any equity in your home above £100,000 — equity being the current value of your home minus the mortgage you owe.

You might still be eligible with assets worth more than £8,000 if you are over State Pension age, if you are disputing ownership of your home, or if your case is about domestic abuse or forced marriage. Note that the State Pension age and home-ownership grounds appear only in the assets test, not in the income test.

When your finances are not counted at all

You can be eligible whatever your financial circumstances if your case is about children in care or being taken into care, is heard by a mental health tribunal, or concerns a child being abducted and taken out of the UK or brought into the UK.

Legal aid may not cover everything

Even with legal aid, you may have to pay some of the costs upfront, and you may have to pay back some of the cost if you win money or property from your case. Your legal adviser will explain what happens where this applies.

How to check and apply

Use the Check if you can get legal aid service.
Answer the questions about your legal problem, income and savings.
Read what you are told to do next.
Speak to the phone adviser, legal adviser or mediator you are directed to.
Let them confirm whether you can get legal aid.
Have your legal adviser apply for legal aid for you.

Checking your eligibility is free. Depending on your answers, you might speak to someone who can arrange legal advice by phone, be told how to find a legal adviser near you, or be told how to find a mediator near you — and you cannot apply for legal aid on your own.