Legalize / United Kingdom / Public General Act

Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012

Type Public General Act

Publication 2012-05-01

State In force

Department Statute Law Database

Source legislation.gov.uk

articles 2

Reform history JSON API

Part 1 — Legal aid

Provision of legal aid

Referral fees: regulations

1

(1) The Lord Chancellor must secure that legal aid is made available in accordance with this Part.

(2) In this Part “legal aid” means—

(a) civil legal services required to be made available under section 9 or 10 or paragraph 3 of Schedule 3 (civil legal aid), and

(b) services consisting of advice, assistance and representation required to be made available under section 13, 15 or 16 or paragraph 4 or 5 of Schedule 3 (criminal legal aid).

(3) The Lord Chancellor may secure the provision of—

(a) general information about the law and the legal system, and

(b) information about the availability of advice about, and assistance in connection with, the law and the legal system.

(4) The Lord Chancellor may do anything which is calculated to facilitate, or is incidental or conducive to, the carrying out of the Lord Chancellor's functions under this Part.

(5) Nothing in this Part affects the powers that the Lord Chancellor has otherwise than under this Part.

Alcohol treatment requirement

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(1) The Lord Chancellor may make such arrangements as the Lord Chancellor considers appropriate for the purposes of carrying out the Lord Chancellor's functions under this Part.

(2) The Lord Chancellor may, in particular, make arrangements by—

(a) making grants or loans to enable persons to provide services or facilitate the provision of services,

(b) making grants or loans to individuals to enable them to obtain services, and

(3) The Lord Chancellor may by regulations make provision about the payment of remuneration by the Lord Chancellor to persons who provide services under arrangements made for the purposes of this Part.

(4) If the Lord Chancellor makes arrangements for the purposes of this Part that provide for a court, tribunal or other person to assess remuneration payable by the Lord Chancellor, the court, tribunal or person must assess the remuneration in accordance with the arrangements and, if relevant, with regulations under subsection (3).

(5) The Lord Chancellor may make different arrangements, in particular, in relation to—

(a) different areas in England and Wales,

(b) different descriptions of case, and

Standards of service

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(1) The Lord Chancellor may set and monitor standards in relation to services made available under this Part.

(2) The Lord Chancellor may, in particular, make arrangements for the accreditation of persons providing, or wishing to provide, such services by—

(a) the Lord Chancellor, or

(b) persons authorised by the Lord Chancellor.

(3) Arrangements for accreditation must include—

(a) arrangements for monitoring services provided by accredited persons, and

(b) arrangements for withdrawing accreditation where the services provided are unsatisfactory.

(4) The Lord Chancellor may impose charges in connection with—

(a) accreditation,

(b) monitoring services provided by accredited persons, and

(5) Persons authorised by the Lord Chancellor may, in accordance with the terms of their authorisation, impose charges in connection with—

(a) accreditation, and

(b) monitoring services provided by accredited persons.

Director of Legal Aid Casework

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(1) The Lord Chancellor must designate a civil servant as the Director of Legal Aid Casework (“the Director”).

(2) The Lord Chancellor must make arrangements for the provision to the Director by civil servants or other persons (or both) of such assistance as the Lord Chancellor considers appropriate.

(3) The Director must—

(a) comply with directions given by the Lord Chancellor about the carrying out of the Director's functions under this Part, and

(b) have regard to guidance given by the Lord Chancellor about the carrying out of those functions.

(4) But the Lord Chancellor—

(a) must not give a direction or guidance about the carrying out of those functions in relation to an individual case, and

(b) must ensure that the Director acts independently of the Lord Chancellor when applying a direction or guidance under subsection (3) in relation to an individual case.

(5) The Lord Chancellor must publish any directions and guidance given under this section.

(6) Directions and guidance under this section may be revised or withdrawn from time to time.

Delegation

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(1) The following functions of the Lord Chancellor may be exercised by, or by employees of, a person authorised by the Lord Chancellor for that purpose—

(a) securing the provision of information under section 1(3), and

(b) setting and monitoring standards under section 3.

(2) Regulations may provide for a function of the Lord Chancellor under regulations made under this Part to be exercisable by, or by employees of, a person authorised by the Lord Chancellor for that purpose.

(3) The functions conferred on the Director by this Part may be exercised by, or by employees of, a person authorised by the Director for that purpose.

(4) Regulations may provide for a function of the Director under regulations made under this Part to be exercisable by, or by employees of, a person authorised by the Director for that purpose.

(5) A direction given by the Lord Chancellor under section 4 about the carrying out of the Director's functions may, in particular, require the Director—

(a) to authorise, or not to authorise, a person to carry out a function specified in the direction, or

(b) to authorise, or not to authorise, a person specified, or of a description specified, in the direction to carry out such a function.

(6) Regulations under subsection (2) or (4) may provide that a function may be exercised—

(a) wholly or to a limited extent;

(b) generally or in particular cases or areas;

(7) An authorisation given for the purposes of this section or regulations under this section may provide that a function may be exercised—

(a) wholly or to a limited extent;

(b) generally or in particular cases or areas;

(8) In the case of an authorisation given for the purposes of regulations under this section, subsection (7) is subject to the provisions of the regulations.

Authorisations

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(1) An authorisation given for the purposes of section 5 or regulations under that section—

(a) may specify its duration,

(b) may specify or describe the authorised person,

(d) does not prevent the Lord Chancellor, the Director or another person from exercising the function to which the authorisation relates.

(2) Anything done or omitted to be done by or in relation to a person authorised under section 5(1) or regulations under section 5(2) (or an employee of such a person) in, or in connection with, the exercise or purported exercise of the function concerned is to be treated for all purposes as done or omitted to be done by the Lord Chancellor.

(3) Anything done or omitted to be done by or in relation to a person authorised under section 5(3) or regulations under section 5(4) (or an employee of such a person) in, or in connection with, the exercise or purported exercise of the function concerned is to be treated for all purposes as done or omitted to be done by the Director.

(4) Subsections (2) and (3)—

(a) do not affect the rights and liabilities of the authorised person or the Lord Chancellor under any arrangements made between them,

(b) do not prevent any civil proceedings which could otherwise be brought by or against the authorised person (or an employee of that person) from being brought,

(c) do not apply for the purposes of criminal proceedings brought in respect of anything done or omitted to be done by the authorised person (or an employee of that person), and

(d) do not make the Lord Chancellor or the Director liable under section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 in respect of any act or omission of an authorised person if the act or omission is of a private nature.

(5) Where—

(a) an authorisation given for the purposes of section 5 or regulations under that section is revoked, and

(b) at the time of the revocation so much of any contract made between the authorised person and the Lord Chancellor as relates to the exercise of the function is subsisting,

the authorised person is entitled to treat the contract as repudiated by the Lord Chancellor (and not as frustrated by reason of the revocation).

(6) In this section “authorised person” means a person authorised for the purposes of section 5 or regulations under that section.

Annual report

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(1) As soon as reasonably practicable after the end of each financial year, the Director must prepare an annual report for the financial year.

(2) The annual report must state how the Director has carried out the functions of the office in the financial year.

(3) The Director must send a copy of the report to the Lord Chancellor.

(4) The Lord Chancellor must—

(a) lay the copy of the report before Parliament, and

(b) arrange for it to be published.

(5) In this section “financial year” means—

(a) the period beginning on the day on which section 4 comes into force and ending on the following 31 March, and

(b) each successive period of 12 months.

Civil legal aid

Civil legal services

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(1) In this Part “legal services” means the following types of services—

(a) providing advice as to how the law applies in particular circumstances,

(b) providing advice and assistance in relation to legal proceedings,

(c) providing other advice and assistance in relation to the prevention of disputes about legal rights or duties (“legal disputes”) or the settlement or other resolution of legal disputes, and

(d) providing advice and assistance in relation to the enforcement of decisions in legal proceedings or other decisions by which legal disputes are resolved.

(2) The services described in subsection (1) include, in particular, advice and assistance in the form of—

(a) representation, and

(b) mediation and other forms of dispute resolution.

(3) In this Part “civil legal services” means any legal services other than the types of advice, assistance and representation that are required to be made available under sections 13, 15 and 16 (criminal legal aid).

General cases

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(1) Civil legal services are to be available to an individual under this Part if—

(a) they are civil legal services described in Part 1 of Schedule 1, and

(b) the Director has determined that the individual qualifies for the services in accordance with this Part (and has not withdrawn the determination).

(2) The Lord Chancellor may by order—

(a) add services to Part 1 of Schedule 1, or

(b) vary or omit services described in that Part,

(whether by modifying that Part or Part 2, 3 or 4 of the Schedule).

Exceptional cases

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(1) Civil legal services other than services described in Part 1 of Schedule 1 are to be available to an individual under this Part if subsection (2) or (4) is satisfied.

(2) This subsection is satisfied where the Director—

(a) has made an exceptional case determination in relation to the individual and the services, and

(b) has determined that the individual qualifies for the services in accordance with this Part,

(and has not withdrawn either determination).

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), an exceptional case determination is a determination—

(a) that it is necessary to make the services available to the individual under this Part because failure to do so would be a breach of—

(i) the individual's Convention rights (within the meaning of the Human Rights Act 1998), or

(ii) any rights of the individual to the provision of legal services that are assimilated enforceable rights, or

(b) that it is appropriate to do so, in the particular circumstances of the case, having regard to any risk that failure to do so would be such a breach.

(4) This subsection is satisfied where—

(a) the services consist of advocacy in proceedings at an inquest under the Coroners Act 1988 into the death of a member of the individual's family,

(b) the Director has made a wider public interest determination in relation to the individual and the inquest, and

(and neither determination has been withdrawn).

(5) For the purposes of subsection (4), a wider public interest determination is a determination that, in the particular circumstances of the case, the provision of advocacy under this Part for the individual for the purposes of the inquest is likely to produce significant benefits for a class of person, other than the individual and the members of the individual's family.

(6) For the purposes of this section an individual is a member of another individual's family if—

(a) they are relatives (whether of the full blood or half blood or by marriage or civil partnership),

(b) they are cohabitants (as defined in Part 4 of the Family Law Act 1996), or

Qualifying for civil legal aid

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(1) The Director must determine whether an individual qualifies under this Part for civil legal services in accordance with—

(a) section 21 (financial resources) and regulations under that section, and

(b) criteria set out in regulations made under this paragraph.

(2) In setting the criteria, the Lord Chancellor—

(a) must consider the circumstances in which it is appropriate to make civil legal services available under this Part, and

(b) must, in particular, consider the extent to which the criteria ought to reflect the factors in subsection (3).

(3) Those factors are—

(a) the likely cost of providing the services and the benefit which may be obtained by the services being provided,

(b) the availability of resources to provide the services,

(c) the appropriateness of applying those resources to provide the services, having regard to present and likely future demands for the provision of civil legal services under this Part,

(d) the importance for the individual of the matters in relation to which the services would be provided,

(e) the nature and seriousness of the act, omission, circumstances or other matter in relation to which the services are sought,

(f) the availability to the individual of services provided other than under this Part and the likelihood of the individual being able to make use of such services,

(g) if the services are sought by the individual in relation to a dispute, the individual's prospects of success in the dispute,

(h) the conduct of the individual in connection with services made available under this Part or an application for such services,

(i) the conduct of the individual in connection with any legal proceedings or other proceedings for resolving disputes about legal rights or duties, and

(j) the public interest.

(4) In setting the criteria, the Lord Chancellor must seek to secure that, in cases in which more than one form of civil legal service could be provided for an individual, the individual qualifies under this Part for the form of service which in all the circumstances is the most appropriate having regard to the criteria.

(5) The criteria must reflect the principle that, in many disputes, mediation and other forms of dispute resolution are more appropriate than legal proceedings.

(6) Regulations under subsection (1)(b) may provide that no criteria apply in relation to a prescribed description of individual or services.

Determinations

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(1) A determination by the Director that an individual qualifies under this Part for civil legal services must specify—

(a) the type of services, and

(b) the matters in relation to which the services are to be available.

(2) Regulations may make provision about the making and withdrawal of determinations under sections 9 and 10.

(3) Regulations under subsection (2) may, in particular, include—

(a) provision about the form and content of determinations and applications for determinations,

(b) provision permitting or requiring applications and determinations to be made and withdrawn in writing, by telephone or by other prescribed means,

(d) provision for a determination to be disregarded for the purposes of this Part if made in response to an application that is made otherwise than in accordance with the regulations,

(e) provision about conditions which must be satisfied by an applicant before a determination is made,

(f) provision about the circumstances in which a determination may or must be withdrawn,

(g) provision requiring information and documents to be provided,

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