Access to justice

Question 1

What do you think is meant by ‘legal services’?

Answer 1

• Advice and representation - often from solicitors or barristers.
• When someone is unable to get help for a legal problem, they are being denied ‘access to justice’.

Question 2

Why are some people unable to get legal help?

Answer 2

• People do not know how to get effective legal services (i.e. what legal services exist, where to find these services, what area of law their problem concerns etc)
• People are intimidated by the idea of dealing with lawyers
• Cost of lawyers and court fees can be too expensive for people to afford. (costs can go from £150 an hour for routine advice in a small local firm to over £600 an hour for specialist work in a top firm).

Question 3

What is legal funding?

Answer 3

• Government pay organisations to advise and represent a client or give the money directly to the client to pay for the services themselves.
• Legal Aid and Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO)

Question 4

Who is responsible for funding under LASPO?

Answer 4

Government

Question 5

How is it decided who gets legal funding?

Answer 5

To decide if someone can get legal funding, we need to consider 3 things:

• The Lord Chancellors criteria for eligibility.
• Type of cases allowed funding
• The ‘means’ test

Question 6

How does the Lord Chancellor decide which cases are eligible?

Answer 6

The Lord Chancellor decides which cases are eligible by using the factors in s11(3)

• Cost of service and benefits of providing them
• Availability of resources to provide services
• The importance to the individual
• Other available services
• Prospect of success through the service
• Public interest

Question 7

What cases can get funding?

Answer 7

The starting position of LASPO is that no civil case can get funding
So usually, the only cases that get funding deal with children’s rights and individual liberty.

Question 8

What is meant by the ‘mens’ test?

Answer 8

Applicant must be below a certain level of finance

Question 9

Who automatically passes this test?

Answer 9

Those on income support or jobseekers

Question 10

What do they look at for the means test?

Answer 10

1) Gross income - this looks at salary/wages. If this is over a certain amount, funding is unavailable.
2) Disposable income - the gross income minus costs such as; tax, NI, housing costs, childcare, and an allowance for the applicant and defendants.

There is a max and min amount allowed

• If the applicant is over max, no funding
• If they are below min, full funding
• If they are between max and min, they must pay some of the costs. The closer they are to the max the more money they have to pay.

3) Disposable capital - the value of assets such as savings, stocks, jewelry etc.
If the assets are over £8,000 they must pay at least part of their legal fees, if not all of them. When the applicant owns a home, only the first £100,000 of their mortgage is ignored. Most houses are worth much more than this so almost everyone who owns a home fails the test.

Question 11

How many civil cases were funded in 2009-2010?

Answer 11

933,616

Question 12

How many civil cases were funded in 2012-2013?

when LASPO started

Answer 12

573,632

Question 13

How many civil cases were funded in 2016-2017?

Answer 13

107,703

Question 14

What do the stats suggest about civil funding?

Answer 14

It is much harder to get civil cases funded.

Question 15

Is there a Budget for LASPO?

Answer 15

-There is no fixed budget for criminal cases, which means defendants can get free advice and representation as long as they pass…

‘Interests of Justice’ test
‘A means’ test

Question 16

How can an interest of justice be proven?

Answer 16

To prove the case is in the interest of justice, D must prove one of the following five factors.

• If found guilty, the defendant would lose his liberty, livelihood or suffer serious damage to his reputation.
• The case involved considering a point of law.
• D is liable to understand the proceedings or state his own case.
• The case involves tracing, interviewing or expert cross examination of witnesses.
• It is in the interests of another person that D be represented.

Question 17

Who is automatically eligible for funding in the Magistrates Court?

Answer 17

Defendants on income support, under 16 or under 18 and in full-time education.

Question 18

How does the means test work if you are not automatically eligible?

Answer 18

• There is a max/min amount
• Over max = ineligible
• Under min = eligible
• In between goes through the disposable income test

Question 19

How many people fail this test?

Answer 19

75% of adults

Question 20

How is means testing in crown court better?

Answer 20

It is much less restrictive and focuses more on disposable income than gross income.

Question 21

Who fails the means test?

Answer 21

Those who have disposable income over £37,500

Question 22

When will D get full funding?

Answer 22

D has a low gross income and under £37,500 disposable income.

Question 23

When will a defendant get partial funding for his case?

Answer 23

Under £37,500 disposable income but very high gross income.

Question 24

How does the verdict of a case affect the amount the defendant pays?

Answer 24

If D is found guilty he may have to pay even more of his fees. If found not guilty he will usually be refunded for anything paid.