THERE is “clear evidence” that unlawful restrictions are being imposed on legal aid for women bringing domestic violence proceedings to court, a charity claimed yesterday.

The allegation was made by campaign group Rights of Women (RoW), which is launching a High Court action seeking clarification of the law on the issue.

RoW is challenging the 2012 civil legal aid procedure regulations on the grounds that they impose restrictions which breach the European Convention on Human Rights.

They also argue the regulations contravene the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women by wrongly imposing procedural requirements that prevent large numbers of women from receiving legal aid for family court proceedings linked to allegations of domestic violence.

A preliminary hearing of the RoW application for permission to seek judicial review took place at London’s High Court yesterday. A full hearing is expected later in the year.

In a statement headlined Ending Domestic Abuse, the charity said: “Domestic violence is prevalent throughout the UK, indeed, studies have shown that as many as 29 per cent of women between the ages of 16 to 59 have reported that they had experienced one or more types of domestic abuse at the hands of a current or former partner at some time in their lives.

“However, domestic violence remains a vastly under-reported crime and the government needs to take steps to increase confidence in the legal system and raise awareness of the devastating effect that domestic violence has on women.”