P5, M3 - Access To Justice
Government funding is controlled by the Ministry of Justice – Legal Aid
Civil
To obtain legal aid in the civil court you must go through a series of stages to
decide whether you qualify for funding. The first stage is to do with the case, this
is the government deciding if your case is worth funding. These considerations
are – Costs and benefits, is the cost of your funding going to be worth the
possible return? Small claims generally do not qualify because the amount of
money that you will receive if you win is not worth funding. Importance, is the
case important enough for the court to fund, is does it have a wider impact
within the community, is it in the public interest to fund this case e.g is there a
factory polluting the local environment etc. Could ADR work, if the answer to this
question is yes then funding will not be provided to take the case to court. What
are the chances of success, if the person is likely to lose the case then it will not
be funded, as it will be a waste of public money. Public interest, is this case in the
public interest, could it impact on many people and perhaps be used as an
example for future cases. Personal injury cases are excluded from Legal Aid, this
may be because of the CFA’s that are available for personal injury claims (No
win, No Fee).
The next stage, if the first stage is passed, is a means test. This is where the
government look at if you can afford to pay for the court costs and your
representation yourself. The means test consists of first a disposable income
test, disposable income is how much money you have left out of your wages
after tax and necessities, necessities are rent/mortgage payments, food bills,
common house expenses such as gas, electricity, water, council tax, petrol if it is
to get you to and from work each day, any tools of the trade costs – these may
include internet if you need it for work. Non necessities are things such as
satellite TV, magazine subscriptions etc. Then they means test your disposable
capital, disposable capital is how much money you have either saved in a bank
or tied up in things such as your house, your car(s), inheritance etc. If you have
enough things in your disposable capital such as a house and cars to be able to
afford your representation by selling them/re-mortgaging your house then you
will not qualify for funding. This is where many families within the middle income
trap fall down, they do not have enough disposable income to take the case to
court because it is all being spent on necessities for living but because they have
worked and saved their whole lives they have things in their disposable capital
such as cars, a mortgaged house, savings etc so they do not qualify for funding.
Problem areas in Legal Aid are – there are too few lawyers signed up to the
scheme because it does not pay nearly as well as private work does, they do not
want to waste their time doing work that doesn’t pay well enough. Also, once the
money has gone from the fund it’s gone until the fund is renewed next month,
Government funding is controlled by the Ministry of Justice – Legal Aid
Civil
To obtain legal aid in the civil court you must go through a series of stages to
decide whether you qualify for funding. The first stage is to do with the case, this
is the government deciding if your case is worth funding. These considerations
are – Costs and benefits, is the cost of your funding going to be worth the
possible return? Small claims generally do not qualify because the amount of
money that you will receive if you win is not worth funding. Importance, is the
case important enough for the court to fund, is does it have a wider impact
within the community, is it in the public interest to fund this case e.g is there a
factory polluting the local environment etc. Could ADR work, if the answer to this
question is yes then funding will not be provided to take the case to court. What
are the chances of success, if the person is likely to lose the case then it will not
be funded, as it will be a waste of public money. Public interest, is this case in the
public interest, could it impact on many people and perhaps be used as an
example for future cases. Personal injury cases are excluded from Legal Aid, this
may be because of the CFA’s that are available for personal injury claims (No
win, No Fee).
The next stage, if the first stage is passed, is a means test. This is where the
government look at if you can afford to pay for the court costs and your
representation yourself. The means test consists of first a disposable income
test, disposable income is how much money you have left out of your wages
after tax and necessities, necessities are rent/mortgage payments, food bills,
common house expenses such as gas, electricity, water, council tax, petrol if it is
to get you to and from work each day, any tools of the trade costs – these may
include internet if you need it for work. Non necessities are things such as
satellite TV, magazine subscriptions etc. Then they means test your disposable
capital, disposable capital is how much money you have either saved in a bank
or tied up in things such as your house, your car(s), inheritance etc. If you have
enough things in your disposable capital such as a house and cars to be able to
afford your representation by selling them/re-mortgaging your house then you
will not qualify for funding. This is where many families within the middle income
trap fall down, they do not have enough disposable income to take the case to
court because it is all being spent on necessities for living but because they have
worked and saved their whole lives they have things in their disposable capital
such as cars, a mortgaged house, savings etc so they do not qualify for funding.
Problem areas in Legal Aid are – there are too few lawyers signed up to the
scheme because it does not pay nearly as well as private work does, they do not
want to waste their time doing work that doesn’t pay well enough. Also, once the
money has gone from the fund it’s gone until the fund is renewed next month,
