Transforming legal aid: delivering a more credible and efficient system, Ministry of Justice, ILPA’s initial comments 29 April 2013. Updated 30 April 2013 with a link to ILPA’s short note on the proposals and 2 May 2013 with article 16 of the Refugee Convention and updated 9 May 2013 with a link to ILPA’s information sheet for non-lawyers about the proposals. Updated 14 May 2013 with correction to travel rates.
The attached are ILPA’s initial comments on the proposal, together with some illustrative case studies. We hope that they will be of use to those formulating their own responses.
Your attention is drawn to the tables now published on the website and to the link below to the Public Law Project’s Public Law Project debunks the Lord Chancellor’s misuse of judiical review statistics
See also the Civil Credibility Impact assesment and in particular the Key Assumption:
Civil legal aid claimants are assumed to continue to achieve the same case outcomes from non-legally aided means of resolution (e.g. resolve the issue themselves or pay privately to resolve the issue)
We include below a link to ILPA’s 8 October 2009 response to the consutlation Legal Aid: Refocusing on Priority Cases which mooted a residence test.
A reminder of Article 16 of the Refugee Convention:
Article 16. – Access to courts
1. A refugee shall have free access to the courts of law on the territory of all Contracting States.
2. A refugee shall enjoy in the Contracting State in which he has his habitual residence the same treatment as a national in matters pertaining to access to the courts, including legal assistance and exemption from cautio judicatum solvi.
3. A refugee shall be accorded in the matters referred to in paragraph 2 in countries other than that in which he has his habitual residence the treatment granted to a national of the country of his habitual residence.
Rates in first paragraph in response to question 32 in initial response:
This did state:
Travel will be paid at between £25.50 and £26.50, preparation and attendance at between £51.00 and £55.00, for self-employed professionals who must meet tax, national insurance and overheads. The uplifts support the practices of more junior practitioners who are appearing in the First-tier Tribunal on fixed fee cases.
It now states:
Currently the rates for travel time are, at least nominally, between £26.51 and £36.82, preparation and attendance at between £47.30 and £74.36, for self-employed professionals who must meet tax, national insurance and overheads. The highest rate in each case being the current uplifted rate paid in only some of the Upper Tribunal cases.
- Document Date
- 2013-04-29
- Issue Number
- 13.04.17792