Explanatory note

increasing the free limit and eligibility limit of disposable income for civil legal aid from £2,515 and £6,035 to £2,645 and £6,350 respectively (regulation 4(1));

increasing the eligibility limit for disposable capital from £6,000 to £6,310 (regulation 4(1));

increasing the eligibility limits for disposable income to £7,000 and disposable capital to £8,000 where, the application for legal aid is made in respect of a personal injury claim (regulation 4(1));

omitting regulation 8 of the 1989 Regulations so that a child’s resources are separately assessed and are no longer taken to include sums to another payable for his maintenance (regulation 4(2));

amending regulation 9 of the 1989 Regulations to allow account to be taken of resources of which an applicant has deprived himself for whatever reason (regulation 4(3));

making provision for allowances to be made in respect of the community charge and water and sewerage charges (regulation 4(5)(a), (b) ands (d));

preserving the dependents' allowances applicable at the beginning of the computation period (regulation 4(5)(e);

allowing an additional disregard of capital on a sliding scale in respect of persons of pensionable age where their disposable income (excluding investment income) is below the free income limit (regulation 4(6)(b));

allowing a disregard in respect of capital payments made in relation to the incident which has led to the litigation (eg disaster fund payments) (regulation 4(6)(c)).