Following the removal of legal aid in child custody cases in April, the number of legal battles between parents has skyrocketed with parents increasingly having to represent themselves.  Acording to  Public Service UK, with these changes, around 200,000 people a year are no longer qualified for legal aid in divorce and child contact cases.

Litigants in person

Lawyers have witnessed an increase in the amount of people showing up at court to represent themselves. Christina Blacklaws of the family lawyers’ representative on the Law Society council, told the BBC: "The whole system is really creaking at seams and could collapse in on itself. This points to some quite difficult times in the future. It could mean that there would not be proper access to justice for those facing family breakdown because they would have to wait so long."