CLS news

A change has been made to the civil legal aid means test (for all levels of service including Legal Help) to coincide with the introduction of means testing to the Crown Court.

New Regulation 24A of the Community Legal Service (Financial) Regulations 2000 comes into effect from 11 January 2010. 

For assessments carried out from 11 January 2010 onwards, a disregard can be made for any monthly payment that the client (or their partner, where applicable) is required to make under a contribution order towards the costs of representation in their criminal case.

This contribution amount will be deducted alongside other deductions made for income tax, national insurance payments, housing costs etc when assessing disposable income.

There is no change to the rules for assessing gross income, or to the upper eligibility limits for gross income, disposable income or capital. The client’s gross income therefore must not exceed £2675 per month limit.

If the client’s income is within this limit, disposable income should be assessed taking account of the above change (where appropriate). See keycard 45 for details of eligibility limits.

Details of payments towards a contribution order can be entered within the ‘Extra Information’ section of the CLSMEANS 1 on page 17 of the form.

Notices have been put on the supplier and citizens’ calculators on the LSC and CLA websites respectively, pending updates to the calculators’ logic in due course.