Amendment regulations in force with effect from 5 October 1999 make changes to applications for advice and assistance under regulation 10 Legal Advice and Assistance Regulations 1989.

The regulations require mediation-related advice or assistance to be treated as a separate matter which is exempt from the application of the solicitor's legal advice and assistance charge and the civil legal aid statutory charge.Regulation 10Regulation 10 authority may only be given by a client to another person to apply for advice and assistance on the client's behalf if, at the time the authorisation was given, the client is either present in, or living in, England or Wales.

This applies to applications for advice and assistance made on or after 5 October 1999.Clients who live outside England and Wales can continue to receive advice and assistance in accordance with regulation 15 Legal Advice and Assistance Regulations 1989, which allows an application to be sent by post with the prior authority of the area office.Practitioners should ensure that they do not accept applications made on behalf of a client under regulation 10 where the client was not present in, or resident in, England and Wales when authority was given.

In cases involving a foreign element and where regulation 10 authority is used, the area office may require information regarding the client's whereabouts or residence at the time authority was given.Family mediation: separate mattersFrom 5 October 1999, mediation-related advice or assistance (as defined) is required to be treated as a separate matter for the purposes of legal advice and assistance.

This means that a separate application form for advice and assistance must be completed where mediation-related advice or assistance is to be given.

This is a mandatory requirement and is not a matter for the solicitor's discretion.Mediation-related advice or assistance means advice or assistance given to a party to mediation in a dispute relating to family matters, where the subject of the advice or assistance forms all or part of the subject matter of the mediation and, at the time when it was given, the mediation has not come to an end as regards the subject matter of the advice or assistance.Mediation does not, for this purpose, come to an end unless and until the mediation breaks down or an agreement is reached between the parties, the terms of which are made binding on the parties by way of a binding agreement, a consent order, or in some other way.'Family matters' is defined in section 13A(2) of the Legal Aid Act 1988 and consists of those matters for which legally-aided mediation is available and to which section 29, requiring an assessment of the suitability of the matter for mediation, may apply.This means that a client who is mediating, and receiving legal advice and assistance, but who is receiving both mediation-related advice or assistance and advice or assistance which is not mediation-related, must make two CLAIM10 advice and assistance applications.

For example, one application may relate to divorce, and work outside a mediation or be undertaken before mediation commences (or after it comes to an end), and the other may relate to an ongoing mediation of an issue or issues relating to a child or children and/or financial issues.

The applications may be made at different times; for example an application in relation to divorce proceedings, and for non-mediation-related advice and assistance regarding children and finances, will generally be completed and signed before the client becomes a party to mediation.If the client becomes a party to mediation, a separate application must be completed and signed for mediation-related advice or assistance.

The CLAIM10 form for mediation-related advice and assistance should be completed in the usual way, and marked clearly that the advice and assistance given was mediation-related.The solicitors' legal advice and assistance charge and the civil legal aid statutory chargeNeither the solicitors' legal advice and assistance charge nor the civil legal aid statutory charge will apply to the costs of giving mediation-relation advice or assistance (as defined).It is important that practitioners take care to ensure that costs are appropriately separated between mediation-related and other advice and assistance, so that neither the solicitors' charge nor the statutory charge is applied to any case where that is not intended.

If it appears that separate forms have not been used as required by the amendment regulations, and all the work done is the subject of a single application and costs claim, the area office may, with or without the file, quantify and disallow the costs of the mediation-related advice and assistance.