The family courts system is at “breaking point” and thousands of vulnerable women and children at risk of abuse are going without legal help, according to a report.

The first research into the likely effect of proposed £6.5 million cuts in family legal aid suggests that they will have a “severe impact” on women and children in the courts.

Ministers outlined proposals recently for a second onslaught on legally aided family work that they say will ensure better controls of a budget that has risen over five years from £74 million to almost £100 million a year.

The plans have provoked unprecedented anger among family barristers, who have already suffered a series of cuts and who say that the most experienced are now deserting the family courts. The research, published yesterday by the Bar Council, shows that ministers’ policies are driving out scores of highly qualified barristers from legal aid family work, leaving only inexperienced lawyers to do complex cases.

One in four barristers has turned down at least one case in the past year solely because of the fees; and if the proposals for further cuts go ahead then more than 80 per cent indicate that they will cut their legal aid work. Among the most senior barristers, 40 per cent intend to stop entirely or reduce greatly the amount of legal aid work that they do.

Desmond Browne, QC, chairman of the Bar, said yesterday: “This compelling report provides hard evidence that government policies are driving skilled advocates out of the family justice system, leaving the most vulnerable in society exposed to miscarriages of family justice.” Family barristers were deeply committed and many were at “breaking point”, he added.

“It is especially regrettable that barristers are effectively penalised for doing legally aided family work, rather than privately paying work, and that this is hitting women and black and minority ethnic advocates hardest of all [because proportionately more of them do family work].”

He said that nearly £3 million of the cuts were aimed at private cases involving disputes between parents over contact with children, for example. But evidence showed that 45 per cent of such cases involved allegations of serious abuse.

Lucy Theis, QC, chairman of the Family Law Bar Association, which commissioned the study, said the report confirmed that barristers were being driven from family work.

“The consequences of this loss of expertise are extremely grave for some of the most vulnerable in society,” she said, adding that she was receiving up to 70 e-mails a day and that hundreds of barristers would be meeting this weekend to discuss what action to take.

Debora Price, of the King’s Institute for the Study of Public Policy, lead author of the report, The Work of the Family Bar, said that family barristers bore heavy responsibilities, dealing with such cases as removal of children at risk of abuse from their homes, domestic violence and homelessness. But there was now a two-tier system of pay, with that for legal aid work far behind what family barristers could earn from privately paid work.

“The differences are substantial and they already create significant inequalities in representation in divorce cases between those who can afford to pay for a barrister themselves and those who can’t.”

She warned that further cuts would spread to cases involving serious child abuse. The cuts will mean that payments were reduced by up to 70 per cent in some cases and across the board by up to 30 per cent.

But Justice Minister, Willy Bach said: "We cannot allow barristers' fees to increase at the expense of services for vulnerable clients. Over the last five years we have seen a 134% rise in fees paid, but just a 36% increase in the number of cases taken on. This is clearly unsustainable and if we did not act we could be forced to reduce legal assistance to vulnerable children and families.

"Child protection is our absolute priority, which is why as part of the changes introduced we have put an extra £4.4 million into the basic fees for this work. This will ensure at least 3,500 child protection cases receive extra funding.

"This work is well paid, barristers receive at least £50 an hour for hearings and much higher fees are claimable in complex cases. There are over 3000 family legal aid barristers and we are confident our changes will not affect services to the public.”

The report was based on a detailed study of 5,000 cases undertaken by more than 1,600 barristers in October last year. It paints a picture of a profession struggling to cope with increasingly complex caseloads, pressure to protect vulnerable clients, disruptive patterns of work and further cuts in pay.

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