Legal aid for family mediation — the full gateway
REVIEWED BY: Sean McNamara on 2026-08-29
The single most important fact
Mediation is one of the very few areas of family law where legal aid still survives in full. If you qualify by income, both the MIAM and the mediation sessions themselves are state-funded from start to finish — no requirement to prove you were abused (unlike most family legal aid on and after 1 May 2022, when domestic-abuse evidence became nearly mandatory for private-law court work). It is the cheapest reliable route into resolving children and some financial disputes without paying for a lawyer.
What legal aid actually covers in mediation
The MIAM (Mediation Information and Assessment Meeting)
- Your first one-to-one meeting with a mediator to decide whether mediation is suitable — fully covered by legal aid with no means (income) test and no contribution
- This is a genuine gateway: you can attend a MIAM regardless of income, and it is a precondition for most private-law court applications (FM1 exemption aside)
Mediation sessions
- Once mediation is agreed, legal aid funds the mediation sessions themselves, usually enough for the dispute to be resolved — free to you with no contribution
- Both parties must qualify and both must be eligible for it to proceed; if the other person is not eligible, the funded session does not go ahead (so check the other side's position early)
Legal Help
- The Legal Help scheme (the advice tier) funds your solicitor's advice about the dispute and drafting the MIAM/mediation paperwork — once the money and recourse to the court is resolved, Legal Help can also cover getting a consent order drafted to formalise your mediated agreement
The means test (money)
Legal aid in mediation is not subject to the strict capital test applied to court work, but income is still checked:
- Passported: if you receive a "qualifying benefit" (see below) you are automatically eligible on means — no income check
- Non-passported: your gross and disposable income are assessed. As a guide, you usually qualify if your gross monthly income is around £2,657 or less (may be varied) and your disposable income is within limits
- Capital (savings/capital over about £8,000) is ignored for mediation — one of its key advantages over court legal aid
The merits test (what you're asking for)
The family mediator, not the court, carries out the merits/eligibility check:
- There must be a real prospect mediation can resolve the dispute
- The matter must fall within civil legal aid classes: private law children orders (child arrangements, specific issue, prohibited steps), domestic abuse injunctions, and divorce/financial matters — with an emphasis on children and where a mediator' s recommendation supports it
- If you have previously been refused legal aid on lack-of-merits grounds, the position is revisited on each new application
The two automatised routes
Qualifying benefits (the passport)
If you receive any of the following you are passported — no income test at all:
- Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA), Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Income Support
- Universal Credit (see below)
- Child Tax Credit / Working Tax Credit (below the HMRC threshold)
- Pension Credit (guarantee credit) , and Legacy benefits such as Income-based JSA/ESA as retained
"Mediating into employment" / Universal Credit
- Universal Credit qualifies you for the passport only if you receive the standard allowance and your earnings fall below the HMRC "additional earnings threshold" used for legal aid — i.e. being merely "on UC" is not enough if your wages are too high
- The "mediating into employment" concept: legal aid and family mediation both favour resolving matters so that you and the household are stable and able to return to or stay in work — a statutory aim of mediation funding; in practice it means the passport is applied generously to UC/maintenance situations where the outcome would otherwise keep you out of employment, and the mediator/var will confirm eligibility.
How to find a legal-aid mediator
- Use the government's search:
- Mediators paid under the Family Mediation Voucher Scheme and those holding LAA contracts for mediation display a legal-aid badge
- The Family Mediation Council (
Word of caution: the family mediator is not your advocate — they are neutral. Your solicitor (Legal Help) remains your adviser.
The £500 voucher interplay
Separate from legal aid is the Family Mediation Voucher Scheme, a £500-per-family voucher:
- If you receive the £500 voucher, you can use it towards mediation fees where legal aid does not cover you (i.e. where you do not qualify on means)
- You cannot double-count the same session: if legal aid is fully funding your mediation, the voucher is not needed; where partial or where only one party is eligible, the voucher bridges the gap
- Apply for the voucher via your mediator — you cannot claim it directly; the mediator claims it for you (it is limited and per-application, so act early)
Bottom line: legal aid pays the MIAM and sessions if you qualify by income (or passport); the voucher is the fallback when you do not — together they cover nearly every mediation.
Official links
- https://www.gov.uk/legal-aid/eligibility
- https://find-legal-advice.justice.gov.uk
- https://www.familymediationcouncil.org.uk
- https://www.gov.uk/government/news/family-mediation-voucher-scheme
This page is general information, not legal advice. YourFamilyCase.co.uk is an independent information directory and is not affiliated with HMCTS or gov.uk.
Content verified against the official HMCTS court directory, gov.uk forms and fees pages, and the professional body registers (SRA, FMC, Bar Council). Last reviewed September 2026.