by Annamaria De Felice
Scotland provides several types of civil protective orders to help protect victims/survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) and abuse. These include interdicts, Non-Harassment Orders, and Exclusion Orders.
In the context of GBV and abuse, these orders serve to limit or prevent contact from someone who poses a risk to the victim/survivor, for e.g. an abusive partner. However, navigating the system to obtain such an order can be challenging, especially for those who don’t qualify for legal aid and who can’t afford the legal costs.
For instance, consider the story of Sarah*, who faced ongoing intimidation and harassment from a former partner. She struggled to afford a Non-Harassment Order, which would have legally prevented her former partner from contacting or approaching her. Without the financial means to pursue it, Sarah was left without the formal protection she urgently needed, highlighting how legal costs can become a barrier to safety.
Or think about Elsa* who is living with an abusive spouse and her two children. The abuse had escalated to the point where she felt unsafe in her own home, but she couldn’t afford the legal fees to apply for an Exclusion Order. An Exclusion Order could have legally forced her spouse to leave the shared home, allowing her and her children to feel secure again. Instead, Elsa endured months of distress and fear, trapped in a dangerous situation due to the cost barrier.
These are examples that show the vital role that protective orders play in safeguarding victims/survivors from harm – but also the serious gap in access when financial constraints stand in the way.
About the Report – “No Cost Barriers: Protective Orders in the Legal Aid system”
To promote equal access to justice, the Scottish Women’s Rights Centre is advocating for full legal aid support in protective order cases, with no means testing or contribution payable by the victims/survivor. Protective orders help safeguard people from abuse, harassment, or threats by setting restrictions the abusive person must follow. Ensuring that these protections are affordable and accessible is essential to providing safety and justice for everyone, regardless of their financial situation.
As Scotland’s legal aid system is currently failing to provide fair and affordable access to justice, the SWRC has worked and recently published a paper titled “No Cost Barriers: Protective Orders in the Legal Aid system,” which contained not only an overview of the current legal aid crisis in Scotland, but also case studies from our Scottish Women’s Right Centre (SWRC), and the input from our SWRC solicitor Signposting Network. This is a network of solicitors who have completed the SWRC’s 2 Day Domestic Abuse & the Law training course. Members of the Network have provided their feedback through roundtables by voicing significant concerns about the barriers their clients face when seeking legal aid and accessing justice in Scotland.
What we discovered
- Victims/survivors report to the SWRC that they often have to contact anywhere between 30-50 solicitors to seek legal representation.
- There is a substantial rise in the number of women who are contacting our services because they cannot find a solicitor to provide legal aid. Our advocacy service has seen an increase in the need to support women to find legal representation, this involves phoning around solicitors and being turned away by many.
- We have also seen a rise in the number of women who are representing themselves in court in family actions.
- Perpetrators often use this as a way of perpetrating continued economic abuse (for e.g. in child contact and divorce cases where the perpetrator drags out proceedings as a means of continued coercive control and economic abuse).
The SWRC is calling for a simpler, fairer process to qualify for legal aid, ensuring that those who need protection can access essential support.
The ongoing financial and procedural barriers within the legal aid system continue to impede access to protective orders for survivors of abuse. Recent developments highlight the urgent need for reform to ensure that all individuals in need of protection can access justice without facing prohibitive costs. The proposed changes aim to remove these barriers, align with international commitments, and improve outcomes for survivors. Ensuring that no victim/survivor of GBV and abuse has to pay for their own protection.
*To protect the confidentiality of the people involved, identifying information has been changed.
