Legal Aid UK

If you need help with legal costs you may be able to receive some help through publicly-funded legal services. These legal services are organised by the Legal Services Commission (LSC). They are provided in the following ways:-

* the legal help scheme (see under heading The legal help scheme)
* the help at court scheme (see under heading The help at court scheme)
* the controlled legal representation scheme (see under heading Controlled legal representation scheme)
* publicly-funded legal representation (see under heading Publicly-funded legal representation).

The legal help scheme, allows people with a low income to get free legal advice and assistance from a solicitor or other organisation. The solicitor or organisation has to have a contract with the Legal Services Commission (LSC) to be able to provide legal help under this scheme.

The legal help scheme covers help from a solicitor including general advice on any legal problems, writing letters, negotiating, getting a barrister’s opinion and preparing a written case for a tribunal.

The scheme does not pay for being represented by a solicitor in court or at a tribunal, (although the help at court scheme, the controlled legal representation scheme or the publicly-funded legal representation might).

The scheme may cover the costs of mediation. Mediation is a process of negotiation where the parties are helped by a neutral mediator to find a solution acceptable to both of them.

The legal help scheme covers advice on general legal problems including advice on the following:-

* maintenance or disputes over children and undefended divorce.
* conveyancing necessary to carry out a court order or following a divorce settlement or legal separation
* contested adoptions
* preparing for tribunals, for example, employment tribunals (for unfair dismissal) or unified appeal tribunals (for benefits appeals), but not representation at the tribunal itself
* making a will if you are seventy or over or you are disabled, or you are a parent making provision for a disabled child or you are a single parent appointing a guardian
* medical negligence cases or cases where personal injury arises from an assault or deliberate abuse.

For your case to qualify for the legal help scheme, there are two criteria that must always be met:-

* help will be provided only where it can be shown there is a benefit to you
* help will be provided only if it is reasonable for the matter to be funded.

In addition to these criteria, there may be other criteria applied, depending on the nature of the case, for example, if the case is about possession of your home, legal help will be refused if the prospects of avoiding possession are poor.

If your gross monthly income (excluding some social security benefits) is over £2,288 you will not be eligible for the legal help scheme. If you have more than four children, this limit goes up by £145 for the fifth and each additional child.

If you have capital of over £8,000, you will not be eligible for help under the legal help scheme. If you have capital of over £3,000, but under £8,000, you may be entitled to help, but may have to pay a contribution.

If you are claiming income support, income-based jobseeker’s allowance or the guarantee credit of Pension Credit, you will be considered to have an income within the limits to qualify for the legal help scheme.

If you are not receiving income support, income-based jobseeker’s allowance or the guarantee credit of Pension Credit, eligibility will depend on disposable income. So, if you are receiving any other benefits, whether or not you are eligible for legal help will depend on your income.

Disposable income is the amount of income you have after deductions have been made for national insurance, tax and dependants’ allowances. A deduction will be made from your weekly income for any dependent partner or children living in the your household. To qualify for the legal help scheme, your disposable monthly income cannot be more than £632.

If you have a partner, your partner’s income and capital may also be taken into account, except where this is inappropriate, for example, where there is a conflict of interest between you and your partner.

If you want more information on financial eligibility, visit the Legal Services Commission website, where there is a leaflet called 'A practical guide to Community Legal Service funding by the Legal Services Commission'. The address is:- http://www.legalservices.gov.uk/public/help/leaflets.asp.

In some cases, your solicitor's costs may be taken from any money or property you are awarded in court, and you will receive what's left. This deduction is called the statutory charge. However, the charge need not be deducted if your solicitor believes this would cause you grave hardship or distress. The statutory charge may also not be deducted if the solicitor or organisation believes it would be too difficult to enforce the deduction.

If the statutory charge has to be paid, payment can be postponed if the charge relates to your home or the home of your dependants. The statutory charge can also be postponed where it is to be paid out of money which is to be used to buy a home for yourself or your dependants. Your solicitor will give you more information about the effects of the statutory charge before you decide to go ahead with your case.

If you qualify for the legal help scheme, you will need to see a solicitor, or organisation with a contract to provide legal help under the legal help scheme. The solicitor will ask you to fill in an application form at the start of the interview. The solicitor will then be able to decide whether you qualify.

In some cases, the Legal Services Commission (LSC) will pay for you to have a solicitor or representative in court. These are cases where there is no real defence, but where you need help to present issues to the court. Examples of cases where help at court could be given include:-

* a debt case where the only issue is when and how the debt is to be paid
* where there is a dispute about the amount of rent or mortgage and the lender or landlord has taken legal action to repossess the property.

You must meet certain financial conditions to be eligible for the help at court scheme. These conditions are the same as for the legal help scheme - see under heading The legal help scheme. There are other conditions you must also meet. Help will be provided only:-

* where it can be shown that representation is appropriate and of real benefit to you
* if it is reasonable for the matter to be funded
* if it is considered to be cost-effective to attend the hearing, rather than simply writing a letter on your behalf.

The controlled legal representation scheme means that free representation can be given if you are:-

* appearing before a Mental Health Review Tribunal. There are no financial eligibility limits; or
* appearing before an Asylum and Immigration Tribunal.

There are specific criteria which must be met. These will depend on what sort of case it is.

Publicly-funded legal representation provides publicly funded legal services for all the work leading up to and including representation by a solicitor or barrister in civil court proceedings.

The granting of publicly-funded legal representation generally depends on whether you have income and capital within specified limits (except in certain cases involving children). Even if you are granted publicly-funded legal representation, you might have to contribute towards the costs.

Being granted publicly-funded legal representation also depends on whether your case meets certain other criteria. This includes whether the Legal Services Commission (LSC) considers it reasonable to fund the case.

There are different forms of publicly-funded legal representation and the type of help required will depend on the type of case and the work required to help resolve the case.

For more information about the different types of publicly-funded legal representation you should contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by e-mail, click on nearest CAB.

* county courts (except cases allocated to the small claims track)
* magistrates’ courts - for civil proceedings such as matrimonial cases
* the High Court and Court of Appeal
* appeals to the House of Lords.

Publicly-funded legal representation does not cover representation at a coroner’s court or at most tribunals except for:-

* housing - including eviction, repairs, rent arrears etc.
* debts - to recover debts by going to court
* consumer problems - compensation for faulty goods or services
* employment – appeals to the Employment Appeal Tribunal from the Employment Tribunal but not representation at the Employment Tribunal itself
* appeals to the High Court from tribunals such as appeals from Social Security Commissioners’ decisions and High Court immigration appeals.

Personal injury cases are not generally covered by publicly-funded legal representation because, for cases such as these, you are expected to enter into a conditional fee agreement with a solicitor (see under heading Other sources of legal help). However, if the overall costs are expected to be unusually high, some publicly-funded legal representation may be available.

For more information about conditional fee agreements and publicly-funded legal representation for personal injury cases, contact a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by e-mail, click on nearest CAB.

Publicly-funded legal representation may cover the costs of non-family mediation as well as those of court proceedings. Mediation is a process of negotiation where the parties are helped by a neutral mediator to find a solution acceptable to both of them. Work in relation to mediation will be paid for only if it is considered to be reasonable.

Some family cases will be considered more suitable for family mediation through publicly-funded legal representation rather than publicly-funded legal representation being made available for court proceedings.

If you are on income support, the guarantee credit of Pension Credit or income-based jobseeker's allowance, you will qualify for free publicly-funded legal representation. If you are not getting one of these benefits, you have to meet capital and income conditions.

You will qualify for free publicly-funded legal representation if you have capital of under £8,000 and also meet income conditions. If you have capital over £8,000, you will not be able to get publicly-funded legal representation. If you have capital between £3,000 and £8,000, you will have to pay anything over £3,000 as a contribution to costs. If you have a partner, your partner’s capital will also be taken into account unless there is a conflict of interest between the two of you.

If your gross monthly income is over £2,288, you will not qualify for publicly-funded legal representation. If your gross monthly income is £2,228 or less you will qualify as long as your monthly disposable income is not more than £632. Disposable income is the amount that you have after deductions have been made for national insurance, tax, rent, certain other necessary expenses and allowances for dependants. If you have a monthly disposable income of £273 or more, you will have to pay a monthly contribution. If you have a partner, your partner’s income will also be taken into account except where this is inappropriate, for example, where there is a conflict of interest between the two of you.

For more information on financial eligibility, visit the Legal Services Commission website where there is a leaflet called A practical guide to Community Legal Service funding by the Legal Services Commission. The address is:- http://www.legalservices.gov.uk/public/help/leaflets.asp.There is also an on-line calculator, which can help you work out if you may be entitled to publicly-funded legal representation, on the Community Legal Services website at: www.clsdirect.org.uk.

If you are awarded money or property as a result of work carried out through publicly-funded legal representation, your solicitor’s costs may be taken from the award and you will receive what is left. This deduction is called the statutory charge. In some cases, however, this statutory charge will not be taken from the award, for example, in family mediation cases or if the money is for maintenance.

If you receive publicly-funded legal representation and you lose the case, you may be ordered to pay the legal costs of the other side if the court considers this would be reasonable.

You should apply through a solicitor who does publicly-funded legal representation work. The solicitor will ask you to fill out an application form, which includes details of your income and capital. The solicitor will then send the form to the LSC, which will assess your financial eligibility for publicly-funded legal representation. To find a solicitor who does publicly-funded legal representation work, you can use the Community Legal Services Directory.

If publicly-funded legal representation is granted but you are also required to pay a contribution, the contributions must be paid monthly, for as long as the case lasts.

For cases involving criminal proceedings you may be eligible for help through legal aid. This could cover the cost of representation by solicitors or barristers, and for bail applications. Getting criminal legal aid depends mainly on whether it is ‘in the interests of justice’ that you are legally represented.

Criminal legal aid does not cover you if you bring a criminal prosecution yourself.

* if you are likely to go to prison if convicted
* if you are likely to lose your job if convicted
* if you cannot follow what is happening in the trial because of mental or physical disability or language problems
* where children are involved in care proceedings, an application for a contact order (if they are the subject of a care order), or adoption proceedings in the magistrates’ courts
* to children or their parents, if a child is charged with or convicted of a criminal offence
* for appeals against criminal court decisions
* contempt of court proceedings.

Minor offences such as motoring offences are not usually eligible for criminal legal aid.

You can obtain forms from the court dealing with the case. These should be returned to the court which will decide whether to grant criminal legal aid.

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