Divorcing parents in custody battles in the UK could be refused legal aid unless they try mediation first,  Conservative justice minister Jonathan Djanogly suggested yesterday.

Mr Djanogly said too many parents fighting over their children were going straight to the courts, costing the Exchequer tens of millions of pounds a year, the Daily Telegraph reports.

He added that more parents in dispute about custody should try alternative ways of resolving their dispute first and that the public should not foot the bill for those who do not.

Separate reviews are currently ongoing in to the £2.2 billion legal aid system and the family justice system and could result in parents being refused legal aid for court cases until they try mediation or other resolutions first.

There were nearly 45,000 child custody cases in England and Wales last year, costing the legal aid system £143 million.

Mr Djanogly said: “Too often people in family breakdown situations use court as a first answer when they shouldn’t.

“Often it’s dealing with contact with children or intimate personal relationships that really shouldn’t be going before the courts. We are determined to look at this.”

He asked whether it was right that the taxpayer foots the bill for those parents in non-violent cases who head directly to court, often because they simply refuse to talk to one another.

Asked whether they should, he told the BBC: “In my view, no.”

Anthony Douglas, chief executive of Cafcass, the organisation that advises the English courts in cases involving children, said: “It really is not justifiable for warring parents to be using courts if they haven’t tried everything to settle and communicate.”

Mediation and PIPS can only be considered as an alternative to the courts when there are no concerns over domestic abuse or the safety of children.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said no decision had been made on legal aid or the family justice system pending the outcome of the two reviews.