Community Legal Service (Financial) Regulations 2000
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 2000/516 |
| Year | 2000 |
2000 No. 516
LEGAL SERVICES COMMISSION, ENGLAND AND WALES
The Community Legal Service (Financial) Regulations 2000
Made 18th February 2000
Laid before Parliament 1st March 2000
Coming into force 1st April 2000
The Lord Chancellor, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 7 and 10 of the Access to Justice Act 19991, and all other powers enabling him in that behalf, makes the following Regulations:
PART I—
GENERAL
Citation and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Community Legal Service (Financial) Regulations 2000 and shall come into force on 1st April 2000.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context requires otherwise:
“the Act” means the Access to Justice Act 1999;
“application” means an application to receive funded services, made by or on behalf of a client in accordance with the Funding Code;
“assessing authority” means:
(a) the Commission, where the client’s eligibility under regulation 5(6) is being assessed;
(b) otherwise, the supplier;
“certificate” means a certificate issued under the Funding Code certifying a decision to fund services for the client;
“client” means an individual who applies for or receives funded services and, in the case of actual or contemplated proceedings, is a party or prospective party to the proceedings;
“clinical negligence proceedings” means proceedings which include:
(a) a claim for damages in respect of breach of a duty of care or trespass to the person committed in the course of the provision of clinical or medical services (including dental or nursing services); or
(b) a claim for damages in respect of alleged professional negligence in the conduct of such a claim;
“Commission” means the Legal Services Commission established under section 1 of the Act;
“CPR” means the Civil Procedure Rules 19982, and a reference to a Part or a rule, prefixed by “CPR”, means the Part or rule so numbered in the CPR;
“disposable income” and “disposable capital” mean, respectively, the income and capital of the person concerned, calculated in accordance with regulations 16 to 37;
“family proceedings” means proceedings which arise out of family relationships, including proceedings in which the welfare of children is determined. Family proceedings also include all proceedings under any one or more of the following:
(a) the Matrimonial Causes Act 19733;
(b) the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 19754;
(c) the Adoption Act 19765;
(d) the Domestic Proceedings and Magistrates' Courts Act 19786;
(e) Part III of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 19847;
(f) Parts I, II and IV of the Children Act 19898;
(g) Part IV of the Family Law Act 19969; and
(h) the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court in relation to children.
“Funding Code” means the code approved under section 9 of the Act;
“funded services” means services which are provided directly for a client and funded for that client by the Commission as part of the Community Legal Service under sections 4 to 11 of the Act;
“partner” except in the expression “partner in a business” means a person with whom the person concerned lives as a couple, and includes a person with whom the person concerned is not currently living but from whom he is not living separate and apart;
“personal injury proceedings” means proceedings for damages in respect of death or any disease or impairment of the client’s physical or mental condition, excluding proceedings for clinical negligence;
“person concerned” means the person:
(a) whose eligibility is to be assessed; or
(b) whose resources are to be treated as the resources of the client under these Regulations;
“solicitor” means solicitor or other person who is an authorised litigator within the meaning of section 119(1) of the Courts and Legal Services Act 199010; and
“supplier” means the solicitor, mediator or agency being requested to provide or providing funded services to the client.
(2) References to the levels of service listed in paragraph (3) shall be construed as references to the application for, or receipt or provision of, those levels of service in accordance with the Funding Code.
(3) The levels of service referred to in paragraph (2) are:
(a)
(a) Legal Help;
(b)
(b) Help at Court;
(c)
(c) Legal Representation;
(d)
(d) Family Mediation;
(e)
(e) Help with Mediation;
(f)
(f) General Family Help;
(g)
(g) Support Funding;
(h)
(h) Litigation Support.
PART II—
ELIGIBILITY, ASSESSMENT AND CONTRIBUTIONS
Financial eligibility
3.—(1) The following services shall be available without reference to the client’s financial resources:
(a)
(a) services consisting exclusively of the provision of general information about the law and legal system and the availability of legal services;
(b)
(b) initial legal advice consisting of such amount of Legal Help as is authorised under a contract to be provided without reference to the client’s financial resources;
(c)
(c) Legal Representation in proceedings under the Children Act 1989 applied for by or on behalf of:
(i) a child in respect of whom an application is made for an order under:
(a) section 31 (care or supervision order);
(b) section 43 (child assessment order);
(c) section 44 (emergency protection order); or
(d) section 45 (extension or discharge of emergency protection order);
(ii) a parent of such a child, or a person with parental responsibility for such a child within the meaning of the Children Act 1989; or
(iii) a child who is brought before a court under section 2511(use of accommodation for restricting liberty) who is not, but wishes to be, legally represented before the court;
(d)
(d) Legal Representation in proceedings related to any proceedings in sub-paragraph (c) which are being heard together with those proceedings or in which an order is being sought as an alternative to an order in those proceedings;
(e)
(e) Legal Representation in proceedings before a Mental Health Review Tribunal under the Mental Health Act 198312, where the client’s case or application to the Tribunal is, or is to be, the subject of the proceedings;
(f)
(f) Legal Representation by a solicitor in England and Wales of a person whose application under the Hague Convention or the European Convention has been submitted to the Central Authority in England and Wales under section 3(2) or 14(2) of the Child Abduction and Custody Act 198513; and
(g)
(g) Legal Representation of a person who:
(i) appeals to a magistrates' court against the registration of, or the refusal to register, a maintenance order made in a Hague Convention country under the Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 197214; or
(ii) applies for the registration of a judgment under section 4 of the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 198215
and who benefited from complete or partial assistance with, or exemption from, costs or expenses in the country in which the maintenance order was made or the judgment was given.
(2) In this regulation:
“Central Authority” has the same meaning as in sections 3 and 14 of the Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985;
“European Convention” means the convention defined in section 12(1) of the Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985;
“Hague Convention” means the convention defined in section 1(1) of the Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985;
“Hague Convention country” has the same meaning as in the Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (Hague Convention Countries) Order 199316; and
“the Maintenance Orders (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1972” means that Act as applied with such exceptions, adaptations and modifications as are specified in the Reciprocal Enforcement of Maintenance Orders (Hague Convention Countries) Order 1993.
4.—(1) Subject to regulation 3, the assessing authority to which an application is made shall determine the financial eligibility of the client in accordance with these Regulations.
(2) Where the assessing authority is satisfied that the client is directly or indirectly in receipt of a qualifying benefit mentioned in paragraph (3), it shall take his disposable income and disposable capital as not exceeding the relevant sums specified in paragraph (4).
(3) The following are qualifying benefits for the purposes of paragraph (2):
(a)
(a) income support;
(b)
(b) income-based jobseeker’s allowance;
(c)
(c) working families' tax credit, provided that the amount (if any) to be deducted under section 128(2)(b) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 has been determined at not more than £70 per week; and
(d)
(d) disabled person’s tax credit, provided that the amount (if any) to be deducted under section 129(5)(b) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 199217has been determined at not more than £70 per week.
(4) The relevant sums mentioned in paragraph (2) are as follows:
(a)
(a) where eligibility is being assessed under regulation 5(2) and the client is in receipt of any qualifying benefit, the disposable income figure in that regulation;
(b)
(b) where eligibility is being assessed under paragraphs (3) or (5) of regulation 5 and the client is in receipt of any qualifying benefit, the disposable income figure in those paragraphs;
(c)
(c) where eligibility is being assessed under paragraphs (3) or (5) of regulation 5 and the client is in receipt of a qualifying benefit in paragraph 3(a) or (b), the disposable capital figure in those paragraphs;
(d)
(d) where eligibility is being assessed under regulation 5(6) and the client is in receipt of a qualifying benefit in paragraph 3(a) or (b), the disposable income figure in regulation 38(2)(a) and the disposable capital figure in regulation 38(2)(b).
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