Key messages for legal aid suppliers - June 2022

Domestic Abuse Waiver

Practitioners are reminded of the discretionary Domestic Abuse Waiver that was introduced on 22 February 2022. A new template for requesting evidence from the Police Service of Northern Ireland has now been added and a link to the document can be seen at paragraph 8 (c) of the LSANI guidance on seeking the domestic abuse waiver. The form is a Domestic Incident Confirmation Request Form for use for requests under the Domestic Abuse Waiver, Sec. 28 of the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act NI 2021 and confirms there will be no fee for confirmation of information but a fee will apply for a report. Practitioners should again familiarise themselves with the guidance and associated documents:

LSANI guidance – seeking the domestic abuse waiver’ to be read alongside the DoJ Guidance ‘DoJ guidance – seeking the domestic abuse waiver in legal aid applications’ – both guidance documents can be located within the ‘Legislation and guidance’ area of the website. LSA Circular 06-22 provides an introduction to the guidance for application of the domestic abuse waiver.

The discretionary Domestic Abuse Waiver is limited to an applicant for legal aid where each of the following conditions are met, namely the applicant for legal aid:

• is or appears to be a victim of domestic abuse;
• is seeking funding as a respondent in proceedings relating to an Order under Article 8 of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995;
• is responding to proceedings brought by the person who perpetrated or apparently perpetrated the abusive behaviour; and
• is personally connected to the individual who brought the Article 8 application.