Law Weblog

Can pay should pay – Criminal Legal Aid reforms

Thursday 30 March 2006 at 7:04 pm | In News | Post Comment

The Criminal Defence Service Act 2006 includes provisions for the introduction of a new means testing scheme under which high earners will no longer receive free criminal legal aid representation.

The new scheme will be implemented in the Magistrates’ Courts from 2 October 2006, and is likely to be rolled out across Crown Courts by the end of 2007. The test will be simple to understand and straightforward to administer, it will be based on a series of upper and lower thresholds that will be weighted to take account of household composition.

Higher earners will be expected to meet the full costs of representation before the Magistrates’ Court, although in the Crown Court a system of contributions will be applied. Privately funded defendants who are subsequently acquitted will in the vast majority of cases be able to recover some or all of their legal costs from central funds.

In the Magistrates’ Courts alone annual savings could be at least £35 million.

An applicant wishing to qualify for criminal legal aid will need to satisfy both the existing “Interests of Justice” test, as well as the new means test.
The “Interests of Justice” test seeks to determine whether the defendant needs to be represented by a lawyer (e.g.; where conviction is likely to result in a custodial sentence, or where conviction is likely to result in a loss of livelihood).
The means test seeks to determine whether it is right that the state should pay for that defence, or whether such costs should fall to the defendant.