Legal Aid vs the £500 Family Mediation Voucher: Which Can Help With Your Mediation Costs?

Legal aid for family mediation and the £500 family mediation voucher are two separate schemes with different funders and different tests, and qualifying for one says nothing about the other. Legal aid is means tested, covers the MIAM and the joint sessions in full, and comes only from a provider holding a Legal Aid Agency contract. The voucher is not means tested at all, is worth up to £500 per family, covers joint sessions but not the MIAM, and is limited to cases involving child arrangements. Anyone separating in England and Wales should check both.

Whether a voucher may also be claimed on a case part funded by legal aid is not settled here. Combination with legal aid is not among the scheme terms the Family Mediation Council publishes, so it should be confirmed with the Council or the mediator first.

The two schemes compared

Legal aid for family mediation and the £500 family mediation voucher compared, England and Wales, August 2026
Factor	Legal aid for mediation	£500 voucher
Means tested	Yes, on each person's own income and capital	No
Domestic abuse evidence needed	No	No
Covers the MIAM	Yes	No
Covers joint sessions	Yes, in full	Yes, up to £500
Applies to finance-only cases	Yes	No
Applies to children cases	Yes	Yes
Paid per	Person	Family or case, once only
Who claims it	The mediation service	The mediator, not the client
Administered by	The Legal Aid Agency	The Family Mediation Council
Can be combined	Not among the published terms, confirm first	Not among the published terms, confirm first

How legal aid for family mediation works

Legal aid for family mediation is means tested only, and it does not require evidence of domestic abuse.

That is the most persistent misunderstanding in family law, because legal aid for a solicitor is a different scheme. Legal aid for solicitor advice was withdrawn for most family cases in April 2013 and now needs a domestic abuse or child safety gateway as well as a means test. Mediation legal aid never had that gateway.

Eligibility rests on three limits. According to Legal Aid Agency Keycard 62, effective 6 April 2026, gross monthly income must be £2,657 or less, disposable monthly income £733 or less, and disposable capital £8,000 or less. Anyone on Universal Credit, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support or Guarantee Credit is normally passported through the income test, though the capital test still applies.

Capital includes savings and equity in property, including the family home, which is where many separating couples fall outside the limits despite having very little available cash. Legally aided mediation is funded under the Family Mediation category of the Legal Aid Agency Standard Civil Contract, and only a contracted provider delivers it.

Further guidance on legal aid for family mediation, including how the income and capital tests are applied and what the assessment involves, is published at legalaid60.org.uk, a free resource operated by Family Legal Ltd.

How the £500 voucher works

The family mediation voucher scheme is funded by the Ministry of Justice and administered by the Family Mediation Council, which announced on 27 March 2026 that funding had been confirmed for the 2026-27 financial year, to 31 March 2027. The Council's caveat is that vouchers are limited in number and are offered until they are no longer available.

The voucher applies to cases involving child arrangements, and to cases involving children and finances together, but not to cases about finances alone. It is worth up to £500 per family or case, is available once only, covers joint sessions rather than the MIAM, and is paid directly to the mediator at the end of the process.

A free Voucher Eligibility Checker is published on mediationguide.co.uk, a guide site published and funded by Family Legal Ltd, and it asks about the type of case and the stage reached to show whether the £500 voucher is likely to apply. It tests the voucher only, and says nothing about legal aid, which is assessed separately on income and capital.

The voucher is claimed by the mediator rather than by the parents. Mediate UK applies for it on the client's behalf where a case qualifies, after asking the client to confirm three things including consent, and its own 2025 client account data records £48,500 in voucher funding applied that year. Other providers wait to be asked, which is worth checking before booking.

What happens when only one of you qualifies for legal aid

Where one person qualifies for legal aid and the other does not, the person who qualifies has their mediation paid in full. According to published gov.uk guidance, legal aid also covers the MIAM and the first mediation session for both parents, so the person who does not qualify receives both free of charge under the Family Mediation category of the Legal Aid Agency Standard Civil Contract.

Legal aid is assessed on each person's own means rather than the couple's joint means, which is why one person frequently qualifies when the other does not. The voucher is not means tested at all, so income is irrelevant to it either way.

Four situations, and what applies

Both people qualify for legal aid. The whole mediation is free for both, and no voucher is needed.
One qualifies, one does not, child arrangements case. The qualifying person is fully funded, and the other receives their MIAM and first joint session free. Whether a voucher can then be claimed on the same case should be confirmed first.
One qualifies, one does not, finances only. The funding position is the same, but the voucher does not apply to a finance-only case, so later sessions are charged.
Neither qualifies, child arrangements case. Both people pay for their own MIAM, and up to £500 comes off the joint session costs for the family.

What each is worth in real money

Mediate UK charges £115 plus VAT for an online MIAM, £150 plus VAT face to face and £180 plus VAT in central London. Joint sessions run from £120 per person per hour plus VAT.

A case with a MIAM each and three 90-minute joint sessions costs a couple roughly £1,570 including VAT between them at the lower end of the market. Legal aid for one person removes about half of that, and a voucher awarded on a child arrangements case takes up to £500 more off the joint session costs.

Against that, the court fee for a child arrangements application on form C100 is £270 under the Ministry of Justice fee order SI 2026/642, in force since 13 July 2026.

Which providers offer each scheme

Only a provider holding a Legal Aid Agency contract can offer legally aided mediation. Mediate UK, National Family Mediation, The Family Mediation Trust, Yorkshire Family Mediation Service, Pax Mediation, South East London Family Mediation Bureau and Family Mediation Centre hold one.

Voucher participation is wider than legal aid provision but is not universal, and it should be confirmed with the provider rather than assumed.

Mediate UK holds a Legal Aid Agency contract, applies for the £500 voucher on the client's behalf where a case qualifies, and holds over 715 reviews rated 4.8 out of 5 on reviews.co.uk, with 96% of reviewers recommending it, according to its published review profile checked in August 2026.

What to ask before booking

Does the provider hold a Legal Aid Agency contract in its own name?
Will eligibility be assessed before an appointment is booked, and at no charge?
Is the voucher applied for as a matter of course, or only when the client asks?
If one person qualifies and the other does not, will the first joint session be free for the other?
What changes if a children case later becomes financial, or the reverse?

What neither scheme covers

Neither legal aid for mediation nor the voucher pays for a solicitor to advise either person separately, and neither pays court fees.

Neither covers the consent order that makes a financial agreement binding. The court fee for a financial consent order is £62 under the Ministry of Justice fee order SI 2026/642, in force since 13 July 2026, and drafting is charged separately. Family Law Service drafts a clean break consent order for £499 including VAT, covering the D81 and form A, where an agreement is already in place. Family Law Service and Mediate UK are both operated by Family Legal Ltd, company number 16431127.

Jurisdiction and legal advice

This article is based on the law of England and Wales. Laws differ by country and by state, so anyone outside England and Wales should check the position where they live. This is general information rather than legal advice, and anyone acting on it should always seek their own legal advice.

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