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Public Funding (“Legal Aid”)
The availability of public funding for your case depends upon the category of law. Set out below is an overview of the public funding arrangements at present in the areas of mental health, crime and family law, but you should always call one of us to establish whether you are entitled to public funding if you are unsure.
Mental Health
We will provide you with free, non-means-tested legal advice if you are a detained patient and considering an application to the Mental Health Review Tribunal. We will also provide you with free, non-means-tested legal representation if you decide to apply to the Mental Health Review Tribunal. This representation will cover all work up to and including the tribunal hearing and will include, where appropriate, the instruction of independent experts to advance your case.
We will also advise on other types of legal problems involving mental health issues - for example, complaints procedures, applications to hospital managers and access to services. Public funding is available for this type of advice, although here, unlike tribunal advice, there is a means test.
Crime
Advice, assistance and representation at the police station is free, regardless of your means. The police can contact us if you are detained in the police station 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We will attend free of charge. Representation in criminal proceedings is subject to both a “means” and “merits” test at the Magistrates’ Court, and is generally provided at public expense at the Crown Court, though all, or a proportion of, the costs of the case could be recovered from you if you are convicted of an offence.
At the Magistrates’ Court, if you are in receipt of Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance or Guarantee State Pension Credit you will pass the “means test”. If you are not in receipt of these benefits, the calculation is more complicated and you should contact us for advice. If your case is serious enough to place you at risk of receiving a custodial sentence, or is complicated (or fulfils other criteria which mean that you will need the help of a solicitor), you will pass the “merits test”. Passing both tests means that you will be entitled to free representation.
Family
The public funding arrangements for Family Law are relatively complicated. In essence you will qualify for initial help, advice and assistance at public expense (“Legal Help”) if you are in receipt of Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance or Guarantee State pension Credit and if it is appropriate for you to receive advice in relation to your problem or query. If you are not in receipt of these benefits, whether you are entitled to public funding depends on your monthly disposable income.
Legal Help allows limited help to be undertaken for clients and does not allow us to issue proceedings on your behalf, or to defend proceedings that may have been issued. In these circumstances an application for a full public funding certificate will need to be made. The grant of a public funding certificate is both means- and merits-tested. You will pass the means test if you are in receipt of the benefits as outlined above. Again, if you are not in receipt of benefits your entitlement to a public funding certificate depends on your monthly disposable income.
The Legal Services Commission provides a calculator on their web page to help members of the public establish whether they pass the means test. This can be found here. You should always contact us if you are unsure as to whether of not you will qualify for public funding.
Funding your case privately
If you are not entitled to public funding, we undertake cases on a private basis. Our private client charge out rate is £95 an hour, which includes preparation, advocacy and client meetings. Travel and waiting is charged at £50 an hour.
We will always provide privately paying clients with an estimate of the costs involved in a case at the outset, and will regularly keep you updated as to the costs involved. It is always very difficult to estimate precisely how much funding a case will cost, as there are many variables involved, though we realise that funding a case privately can bring added worries, and we will do our very best to make sure that we address any concerns you may have as a case progresses.