Explanatory note

These Regulations amend the Civil Legal Aid (Financial Resources and Payment for Services) Regulations 2013 S.I. 2013/480 (“the 2013 Regulations”).

Part 1 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (c. 10) (“the Act”) makes provision for the availability of civil legal services. Civil legal services will be made available to an individual if those civil legal services are described in Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the Act and the individual qualifies on the grounds of financial resources and merits. The 2013 Regulations set out the detail of how the Director of Legal Aid Casework will determine whether an individual qualifies for civil legal services on the grounds of financial resources.

Regulation 2(2) adds two new sub-paragraphs to regulation 5(1) of the 2013 Regulations to provide two circumstances in which the Director may determine that certain forms of civil legal services (as specified) are to be available without a determination in respect of an individual’s financial resources.

Regulation 2(2)(a) adds regulation 5(1)(ga) to the 2013 Regulations, to provide that there is to be no determination in relation to the financial resources of an individual for the civil legal services of family mediation for a Mediation Information and Assessment meeting if that individual is a party to that meeting and another party to that meeting has already been assessed as financially eligible for family mediation for that meeting.

Regulation 2(2)(b) adds regulation 5(1)(ha) to the 2013 Regulations, to provide that there is to be no determination in relation to the financial resources of an individual for family mediation, if the individual is an applicant under the Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction which was signed at the Hague on 25th October 1980 (which is referred to in these Regulations as the 1980 Hague Convention).

Regulation 3 provides that the amendments made by regulation 2 do not apply to pre-commencement applications for family mediation.

An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as it has no impact on businesses and civil society organisations. It has a negligible impact on the public sector.