After years of being subjected to her husband’s violence, A contacted the police. She was granted emergency legal aid, but when her legal aid assessment came back, she was told she would be charged £560 per month. As a carer in a care home, and mother to two school-age teenagers, she has no possibility of affording that. She paid the first instalment by borrowing from her employer, but then had to cancel the legal aid certificate and represent herself in court.