The Government recognises that there is clear evidence of challenges faced by victim-survivors of domestic abuse in financial proceedings on divorce, including in relation to enforcement of financial orders, such as property adjustment orders. Enforcement is a critical issue within the wider context of domestic abuse, including economic abuse, as failures to secure compliance can perpetuate harm and undermine the intent of court orders. As outlined in the Government’s recent consultation, A Fairer End to Relationships, we recognise the importance of this issue and will give further careful consideration to how it might best be addressed.

The Government also recognises concerns about the adequacy of existing legal protections in preventing economic abuse through the disposal, transfer or occupation of property. Whilst protections exist for divorcing couples, the law does not currently provide a specific legislative framework giving financial rights and protections for cohabitants who separate. Our consultation proposed new framework of protections for cohabitants, and also asked for views on how domestic abuse, including economic abuse, could be taken into account in financial proceedings on divorce and in any future cohabitation proceedings. The consultation has now closed and the Government is considering the responses before finalising its policies.

The Department does not collect data on cases in which domestic abuse survivors are unable to access or occupy property awarded to them through family court proceedings.

The Department has not made a specific assessment of the adequacy of rules in relation to people with serious or deteriorating health conditions. The rules regarding costs in divorce proceedings and financial remedy proceedings on divorce are governed by Part 28 of the Family Procedure Rule and apply in respect of all litigants, including those who have serious and deteriorating health conditions.

The Government recognises the importance of ensuring that legal costs in financial proceedings on divorce are proportionate, including for disabled people and those with serious long-term health conditions. That is one of the reasons why the Government has recently consulted on reforms to the law of financial provision on divorce to make the law clearer and more accessible, to reduce litigation and costs spent by separating couples. A clearer framework could make it easier for divorcing couples to resolve finances without going to court, helping to avoid disproportionate costs.

The Department has not made a specific assessment of the adequacy of rules in relation to people with serious or deteriorating health conditions. The rules regarding costs in divorce proceedings and financial remedy proceedings on divorce are governed by Part 28 of the Family Procedure Rule and apply in respect of all litigants, including those who have serious and deteriorating health conditions.

The Government recognises the importance of ensuring that legal costs in financial proceedings on divorce are proportionate, including for disabled people and those with serious long-term health conditions. That is one of the reasons why the Government has recently consulted on reforms to the law of financial provision on divorce to make the law clearer and more accessible, to reduce litigation and costs spent by separating couples. A clearer framework could make it easier for divorcing couples to resolve finances without going to court, helping to avoid disproportionate costs.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is committed to issuing all Armed Forces Pension Scheme (AFPS) members with their entitlement as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Members with a pension already in payment who are in scope for 2015 Remedy and awaiting their Remedial Service Statement (RSS) continue to receive their current benefits. On receipt of their RSS, should the member then choose the alternative benefits, any payments due will be backdated with interest to ensure the member receives the full value owed.

The processing of divorce cases affected by the 2015 Remedy is already underway. Alongside the direction received, additional operational guidance, tools and calculations have been developed to best enable accurate and efficient implementation, with further clarification obtained on the technical guidance where required.

Regular progress updates continue to be published in the AFPS Quarterly Digest and at the following link on the gov.uk website:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pensions-and-compensation-for-veterans#remediable-service-statement-delivery-update

The information requested on dopamine agonists is not held centrally nor held in the format requested and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Dopamine agonists encompass a range of medicines authorised for the management of Parkinson’s disease, restless legs syndrome and endocrine disorders in the United Kingdom.

The product information approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) are designed to support safe use of the medicine by providing essential information and supporting discussions between patients and the healthcare professionals providing their care.

The MHRA continuously monitors the safety of medicines on the UK market to ensure that warnings and side-effects listed in the product information accurately reflect the available data. The MHRA is currently reviewing whether further action is needed to raise awareness of the existing warnings about impulse control disorders with dopamine agonists.

The Ministry of Justice works closely with the Family Mediation Council (FMC) to ensure that the information provided to all eligible couples when they enter the Family Court system regarding the benefits of non-court dispute resolution, including family mediation, is complete and up to date.

The Ministry of Justice and the FMC also work together to facilitate and support the use of family mediation more generally, for example by ensuring that guidance remains useful and effective.

Information on non-court dispute resolution including mediation, is included as part of the recently updated Gov.UK pages and online tools designed to help separating parents: Making child arrangements if you divorce or separate: Other ways to agree without going to court - GOV.UK.

The Ministry of Justice has co-operated with the FMC to ensure the effective running of the Family Mediation Voucher Scheme, which requires participating mediators to be accredited by the FMC. This scheme gives all those who qualify, including separating and divorcing couples, a £500 single-use voucher to spend on family mediation, provided that their dispute or application involves a child.

Since the scheme was established in 2021, 58,670 vouchers have been approved (as of 18 June 2026).

This Government recognises the vital role that legal aid and mediation plays in supporting individuals to resolve their family disputes. We know that the civil and family legal aid market, including family mediation, is facing challenges and we are taking steps to address these.

We are undertaking a programme to transform the delivery of legal aid and the Legal Aid Agency’s (LAA) systems over this Parliament. The programme seeks to deliver flexible, secure services designed around the end-to-end legal aid user journey and to reduce administrative burdens for legal aid providers.

Last year, the Government spent £854 million on family legal aid, and we continue to keep family legal aid policy under review.

Alongside legal aid, we are also committed to supporting more families reach agreement outside of court through mediation, where it is safe and appropriate to do so. The Family Mediation Voucher Scheme, introduced in April 2021, is available to families across England and Wales. The scheme offers up to £500 towards mediation costs.

The LAA does not hold information about the number of individual mediators able to provide family legal aid mediation services as it contracts with providers at an organisational level. The LAA publishes data on the number of contracted providers delivering legal aid services as part of its official statistics - https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/legal-aid-statistics-quarterly-october-to-december-2025. Statistics for the most recent published period show there are 87 providers with a family mediation contract. Although contracts may be linked to a single office, mediation providers operate multiple outreach arrangements through which services are delivered. Unlike other civil categories of law there are no defined geographic procurement areas, so providers can operate across England and Wales. Some providers include large numbers of outreach locations on their schedules, in some cases running into the hundreds. Details of the outreach locations for each mediation provider can be found in the published Directory of Legal Aid Providers - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/directory-of-legal-aid-providers.

Procurement for legal aid contracts, including family mediation contracts, is operated under the ‘always on principle’ so that the procurement remains open during the life of the contract. This means providers can apply for a contract or expand their services at any time, rather than waiting for a fixed tender period. This flexible approach is designed to maintain and grow the supply of legal aid services by encouraging further supply into the market, alongside quicker process times for bids and simplified documentation, reducing barriers to entry.

The Government acknowledges that there is clear evidence of challenges faced in financial remedy proceedings on divorce, in relation both to compliance with financial orders and the effectiveness of enforcement where there is a failure to comply. Enforcement in particular is a critical issue within the wider context of domestic abuse, including economic abuse, as failure to secure compliance can perpetuate harm and undermine court orders.

The Family Court has a range of powers to enforce compliance with financial orders, including attachment of earnings orders, third party debt orders, charging orders and orders for sale, warrants of control and committal for contempt of court. The Law Commission published a report in 2016 on enforcement of financial remedy orders and made recommendations for primary and secondary legislative change. These recommendations did not include automatic monitoring or enforcement systems.

The Government launched A Fairer End to Relationships consultation on 5 June, which considers issues relating to domestic abuse and financial proceedings on divorce. The consultation closes on 14 August. Whilst this consultation does not cover the issue of enforcement, the Government continues to recognise its importance and will give further careful consideration to how it might best be addressed.

The statutory period to implement a standard Pension Sharing Order (PSO) is four months. However, the McCloud Remedy has made pension sharing in divorce cases more complex, as the correct valuation depends on a member’s final Remedy choice for service between 2015 and 2022.

While guidance exists for standard PSOs, some older, complex cases require careful handling to ensure legal compliance and avoid errors. As a result, these cases take longer to resolve than standard ones. It is not possible to provide a definitive timeline for complex PSOs, as each case is different.

To ensure fairness, all cases are handled in the order they are received, with prioritisation applied only when legally required. Each case is carefully managed and reviewed to prevent errors and ensure decisions withstand external scrutiny.

The Armed Forces Pension Scheme (AFPS) continues to provide quarterly updates of progress and volumes of Remedy cases completed to date on gov.uk and in the Quarterly Digest.

The next quarterly update will be published on gov.uk at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pensions-and-compensation-for-veterans#remediable-service-statement-delivery-update

The Government has no plans to undertake a further review of divorce law in respect of the way in which marriages are dissolved. This is because significant reforms were introduced by the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act (“DDSA”) 2020, which came into force on 6 April 2022. These reforms established a system of no-fault divorce, enabled joint applications and strengthened protections for respondents, including by making provision to delay the final order where financial disadvantage may arise before the settlement becomes final.

The law governing financial remedies on divorce enables parties to apply to the court for the division of assets. This legislation also allows applications for interim maintenance orders (known as “maintenance pending suit”) once a divorce application has been made. These orders can meet immediate needs, in so far as the court thinks reasonable, before a financial settlement is reached.

The Law Commission conducted a review of the law relating to financial remedies on divorce in December 2024. The Government will be considering issues raised by the Law Commission, including issues relating to vulnerable individuals, in its upcoming consultation on Cohabitation and Financial Remedies.

We use an applicant’s response to determine socio-economic background, including the occupation of the ‘main household earner’ when the applicant was 14 years old. This is in line with the guidance from the ONS and Social Mobility Commission.

This Government recognises that legal aid – a vital part of the justice system – supports the ability of individuals to access publicly funded legal assistance to uphold their legal rights.

Legal aid is available for private family proceedings, such as divorce and financial remedy proceedings, if an adult is a victim of domestic abuse or at risk of being abused. Funding is subject to providing the required evidence of domestic abuse and passing the means and merits tests. The Government recognises that abuse may include behaviour directed at a third party, for example the victim’s child, to influence the victim. In May 2025, we amended the legislation to explicitly reflect this definition of domestic abuse; it now reflects the definition of domestic abuse from the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, and it clarifies that behaviour, violence or abuse between individuals may consist of or include behaviour, violence or abuse directed at another individual.

Legal aid is available for individuals for some private family orders, such as child arrangement orders or prohibited steps orders, if the child who is the subject of the order is a victim of child abuse or at risk of abuse. This is subject to providing evidence of child abuse and passing the means and merits tests.

The Government monitors legal aid provision and is carefully considering the criteria that govern financial eligibility for legal aid.

Where an issue falls outside the scope of legal aid, eligible individuals may be able to obtain Exceptional Case Funding where they can show that, without the provision of legal aid, there is a risk that their human rights may be breached.

It is a matter of concern that perpetrators of domestic abuse may fail to engage with divorce proceedings. The courts have powers to deal with parties who fail to engage, including to make orders confirming a perpetrator has received a divorce application when they have refused to acknowledge it. In September this year, the process of asking the court to make orders about sending applications became easier, when His Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service extended the online application system for litigants-in-person.

It is a top priority for this Government to tackle violence against women and girls, including economic abuse and coercive control. The Law Commission’s 2024 scoping report on financial remedies on divorce considered the issue of domestic abuse in financial remedy cases. The Government is carefully considering this report as it prepares to consult on issues identified by the Law Commission. We will issue our consultation by Spring next year.

It is a matter of concern that perpetrators of domestic abuse may fail to engage with divorce proceedings. The courts have powers to deal with parties who fail to engage, including to make orders confirming a perpetrator has received a divorce application when they have refused to acknowledge it. In September this year, the process of asking the court to make orders about sending applications became easier, when His Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service extended the online application system for litigants-in-person.