Legal aid in divorce is a nightmare, because not only is it for victims of dv, but they must also provide acceptable proof of that dv to the Legal Aid Agency.
Some firms will accept a fixed fee for certain cases, including divorce. A simple divorce without a financial arrangement (parties just go their separate ways, ie they didn't own property or have kids) can be as cheap as £400 plus vat plus court fees.
There is legal aid and legal help funding still availble in other areas, but it is means tested, other than for Mental Health Tribunals; legal aid remains non means tested and is available for all detained under Mental Health Act for the purposes of funding first teir tribunals
When legal aid is not available, fees for other civil cases can come in at a fixed fee of as low as £1000 to £1500 and some places will accept that in two or three installments. However, for larger, lengthier and/or more complex cases the fee will of course be higher, but people often prefer a fixed fee than to pay someone hourly. Hourly fees can vary from 120 to 220ph and barristers fees may have to be paid on top.
Some places are taking on alot of CFAs so that if you lose you dont pay, insurance policies are usually taken out on these. Firms often wont take on a cfa unless they agree that you have at least a 60%+ chance of success. If a person disagrees with this or wants to pursue the matter anyway they may find that they cant obtain a Cfa. Lots of cfas do not cover experts fees or court fees so still have to be paid for.
A lot of people are arranging legal insurance, but as to whether these policies cover legal expenses for any given scenario is another thing.
Lots of legal aid lawyers have been hit badly by the cuts and some feel great empathy for clients who would previously have been entitled to legal aid and are therefore doing a lot of pro bono work.
The law centres and citizens advice bureau in lots of areas are also offering free legal advice and picking up a lot of the slack; although how far they can take a matter is limited to the expertise of staff onsite and after the advice stage will often need to refer to a solicitor.
That said, in a lot of cases and for a lot of people, there is no chance of legal aid, a cfa or an affordable fixed fee and they cannot have access to the support and representation that they need.
A lot if people are using a free or fixed fee initial advice session of 30 min or 1 hour to glean an incite into the legal issues in their case and then use internet research to represent themselves. Often they inevitably often do not comply with pre action protocol and a lot of judges are spending extra time in court dealing with lay people trying to represent themselves. Perhaps the more this happens, the more that the powers that be will realise that people are being denied access to justice purely due to financial reasons.