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Legal aid is a system for contributing to legal costs for those people with limited resources to pay themselves.  The programme has been operating in the UK for a little over sixty years.  The legal aid system allows access to legal funding on specific types of cases which are either civil or criminal law cases.

The Legal Services Commission (LSC) administers the legal aid fund on behalf of the government.  Firms of solicitors are not automatically included in the legal aid scheme but instead have to apply for a franchise.  The franchise permits them to place the legal aid logo on their marketing documentation (business cards, letterheads, compliments slip, along with any advertising for their firm).  If a firm of solicitors is not part of the legal aid scheme, then they are not permitted to display information suggesting that they are.

Legal Aid Funding Costs

The cost of the programme presently stands at £2.1 million pounds annually.  The budget level, within England and Wales, is being challenged on the basis that it is too costly to fund and some cases are unnecessarily paid for under the legal aid scheme.

Legal Aid Cuts

The Ministry of Justice is proposing to cut the funding by £300 million pounds to £1.8 million.  This proposal is due to return to parliament for further debate soon.  Opposition to the cuts are most vocal from workers within the legal profession and campaigners for equal access to legal rights.  The Law Society themselves weighed in on the proposed cuts by stating that such cuts would hurt the “weak and vulnerable”.

Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has previously told parliament and recently on a BBC Radio 4 programme, that the existing system of legal aid unnecessarily funds cases such as divorce cases that should not fall under the legal aid scheme.  Furthermore, his opinion is that the prevalence of legal aid provides an opportunity for individuals to become more litigious than they would otherwise be because they are not paying for the full cost of litigation.

The proposed cuts include:

• Some divorce cases and child custody battles
• Clinical negligence claims
• Employment and educational law
• Immigration cases, excluding matters arising from location of detainment
• Housing and benefits, and some debt related cases

However, in addition, it is being proposed that extra resources are put towards cases that relate to domestic violence.  These were not previously under coverage and the proposals specifically relate to mental and sexual abuse cases.

Means and Merits

Legal aid is not a right and it is not free money.  Whether someone will have to repay the LSC back will depend partly on the outcome of the case.  If the case is won, but your legal costs are not fully met by the other party, then the benefactor will possibly need to repay the LSC back in the future when they have the means to do so.

Eligibility Test

The basic exclusion is whether you have a gross (pre-tax) monthly income of more than £2,657 per month.  If you do, you are not eligible.  If you have a disposable monthly income of more than £733 per month, then again you are not eligible.  In addition, if you have too much capital in equity in your home or in other forms of assets such as cash, savings or investments, which exceed £8,000, again you will not be eligible.

Intention of Legal Aid

The legal aid programme is intended to help low income and/or low capital asset ownership individuals who have need for legal funding on cases that fit within the funding profile supported by the programme itself.

How this will affect no win no fee solicitors in the UK is not yet clear, however the medical negligence cases are a target. I asked my local swindon solicitors how they expected the changes to affect their no win no fee business, but he was as yet unsure.

Tags: lawyers, legal aid, no win no fee, solicitors, swindon

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