The Civil Legal Aid (Assessment of Resources) (Amendment) Regulations 1997

Made: 10th March 1997

Laid before Parliament: 11th March 1997

Coming into force

The Lord Chancellor, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 15(1), 16, 34 and 43 of the Legal Aid Act 1988[^f00001], and with the consent of the Treasury, hereby makes the following Regulations:—

Citation, commencement, interpretation and transitional provisions

1

• (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Civil Legal Aid (Assessment of Resources) (Amendment) Regulations 1997 and shall come into force on 1st April 1997, except for regulation 2 which shall come into force on 7th April 1997.

• (2) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, a regulation or Schedule referred to by number alone means the regulation or Schedule so numbered in Civil Legal Aid (Assessment of Resources) Regulations 1989[^f00002].

• (3) Subject to paragraph (4), these Regulations shall apply to applications for legal aid made on or after 7th April 1997 and applications made before that date shall be treated as if these Regulations had not come into force.

• (4) Regulation 3 of these Regulations shall apply to applications for legal aid made on or after 1st April 1997 and applications made before that date shall be treated as if regulation 3 had not come into force.

Amendments to the Civil Legal Aid (Assessment of Resources) Regulations 1989

2

Regulation 4 shall be amended by substituting in

• (a) paragraph (2) for “£7,403”, “£7,595”,

• (b) paragraph (3) for “£8,158”, “£8,370”, and

• (c) paragraph (4) for “£2,498”, “£2,563”.

3

• (1) Paragraph 6 of Schedule 2 shall stand as sub-paragraph (1) of that paragraph.

• (2) After paragraph 6(1) of Schedule 2, there shall be inserted the following:—

(2) In computing disposable income, a payment made under the Community Care (Direct Payments) Act 1996[^f00003] shall be disregarded.

• (3) At the end of paragraph 8 of Schedule 3, there shall be inserted the following:—

or any arrears of payments made under the Community Care (Direct Payments) Act 1996

Signed

Mackay of Clashfern, C. — Dated 10th March 1997

We consent,

Richard Ottaway — Patrick McLoughlin — Two of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury — Dated 10th March 1997

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Order)

These Regulations amend the Civil Legal Aid (Assessment of Resources) Regulations 1989 so as to:—

• (a) increase the income limit for non-contributory civil legal aid from £2,498 to £2,563; the upper income limit is increased from £7,403 to £7,595; for personal injury cases the upper income limit is increased from £8,158 to £8,370 (regulation 2); and

• (b) provide that a payment made under the Community Care (Direct Payments) Act 1996 shall be disregarded in computing disposable income and capital (regulation 3).

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 1988 c. 34; sections 15, 16, 34 and 43 were amended by the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 (c. 41), Schedule 17 paragraph 19 and Schedule 18, paragraphs 60 and 63. Section 43 is an interpretation provision and is cited because of the meaning assigned to the word “regulations”.

[^f00002]: S.I. 1989/338; the relevant amending instruments are S.I. 1990/484, 1991/635, 1992/718, 1993/788, 1994/806, 1995/797 and 1996/642.

[^f00003]: 1996 c. 30.