Irvine retreats on legal aid eligibility

By Sue AllenHomeowners with 3,000 equity in their homes will not be liable to make contributions to the cost of legal aid, the government...By Sue AllenHomeowners with 3,000 equity in their homes will not be liable to make contributions to the cost of legal aid, the government announced this week in a climbdown over key planks of its proposals to reform accessibility tests for people seeking public funds.

The u-turns, which have seen the deeply unpopular 3,000 equity proposal dropped altogether, have been welcomed by practitioners and special interest groups.

Lord Chancellors Department minster David Lock said the government had listened to concerns that the proposal would deter people on low incomes from applying for publicly funded legal services.

Law Society President Michael Napier welcomed the decision: The original plan would have effectively excluded house owners from help.

There is still a long way to go before eligibility for legal aid is at a level which ensures effective access to justice for all but todays announcement is an important step in the right direction.

Legal Action Group director Karen Mackay said the original proposal was unfair and unworkable and would particularly have penalised the elderly, who often owned property but had low incomes.

The government has also decided to drop plans to introduce a contributory scheme for legal help and help at court.

Under the original proposals, claimants would have been required to pay 45, 150 or 300 towards their cases, depending on income.

Mr Lock this week admitted that such a scheme would have been a very real deterrent for those seeking quick and basic advice.

Plans to introduce a sliding-scale of contributions from income for legalrepresentation and support funding will remain (see [2000] Gazette, 3 August, 1).

The government has also introduced Continued from page 1new proposals to raise the income and capital threshold for legal help and help at court to 75% of the difference between the current eligibility limits for legal representation and legal help.Richard Miller, acting director of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group, said the increase was very welcome and overdue.Plans to raise the capital limit for those wishing to gain assistance through legal help and help at court schemes from 1,000 to 3,000, were also warmly received.For all other types of publicly funded assistance, capital limits will be raised from 6,700 to 8,000 in line with that for eligibility for Income Support.Mr Lock also announced that plans to simplify means testing would be introduced.

For the first time, an upper-level income cap on gross income of 24,000 is to be introduced.

As a result, anyone earning above this will not be eligible for legal aid.

Revised allowances mean that a maximum of 125 a week of housing costs for those without dependants will be taken into account, along with a fixed allowance of 10 a week for travel costs.

A full deduction of child care costs will also be introduced.Ms Mackay said a simplified means test could result in expenses like travel to work costs, child care and high housing costs being ignored under the new test, which could lead to many people missing out.