Cuts to legal aid shut dozens of centres helping kids keep in touch with their separated parents, a new report revealled yesterday.

Over 40 closures have affected hundreds of children across England and Wales, who are now unable to easily keep in contact with their mothers or fathers.

According to the National Association for Child Contact Centres (NACCC), cuts to the legal aid budget have meant half the number of parents have been able to apply for contact because they can’t afford a solicitor.

The charity’s chief executive Elizabeth Coe said: “Given that family breakdown costs the country an estimated £49 billion a year, family legal aid cuts may prove a false economy.

“The best outcomes for children following a separation come when parents can work together and where conflict is reduced.

“Contact centres can facilitate this at a time when parents are themselves struggling emotionally.”

The report also reveled how whole regions of England and Wales have no child contact centres at all.

The NACCC believed the end of these services will affect fathers the most, as many are more likely to abandon attempts to keep in touch with their children.

Head of family law at Slater & Gordon Andrew Newbury said: “The drop in solicitor referrals to contact centres is another unexpected impact of the legal aid cuts to family work.

“Without specialist advice from family lawyers, how would people know that facilities such as contact centres exist?

“There is a huge rise in people dealing with the court process without a solicitor. As they don’t understand the court rules, this is causing delay in the system with many cases now taking far longer to conclude.

“For some, that may mean not seeing their children for many months.”

To many, the closures of contact centres were proof of how the cuts to legal aid are creating a divide between those who can and cannot afford justice.

The Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers secretary Sam Parham told the Star: “It’s another example of this government’s legal aid policy: access to justice is not a right, it is a privilege for the wealthy.”