# The Civil Legal Aid (Merits Criteria) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2015, Note: Explanatory note


(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations amend the Civil Legal Aid (Merits Criteria) Regulations 2013 (S.I. 2013/104) (“the Merits Criteria Regulations”), which make provision for the criteria which the Director of Legal Aid Casework (“the Director”) must apply when determining whether an individual or legal person qualifies for civil legal services under Part 1 of, or Schedule 3 to, the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (c. 10).
Regulation 2 amends the merits criteria which the Director must apply in relation to determinations for legal representation in certain cases. Regulation 2(2) amends the definition of “poor” prospects of success to mean that a case has 20% or more chance of obtaining a successful outcome, but less than a 50% chance. Regulation 2(2) also creates a “very poor” category of prospects, which is less than a 20% chance of obtaining a successful outcome.
Regulation 2(4) amends regulation 43 of the Merits Criteria Regulations to provide that the prospects of success criterion is only met if the Director is satisfied that the prospects of success are “borderline” (as defined by regulation 5(1)(d) of the Merits Criteria Regulations) or “poor”, but it necessary for the criterion to be met to prevent a breach of the individual’s Convention or enforceable EU rights, or where it would be appropriate for the criterion to be met having regard to any risk of such breach. Regulation 2(5) to (11) makes equivalent amendments to other provisions of the Merits Criteria Regulations which apply a “prospects of success” test.
Regulation 3(1) provides that the amendments made by regulation 2 apply to matters in which a relevant determination is made on or after 27th July 2015. Regulation 3(2) defines “relevant determination”.
A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business, the voluntary sector and the public sector is available from the Ministry of Justice, 102 Petty France, London SW1H 9AJ and is published with an Explanatory Memorandum alongside the instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk .

---
Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/1571/note (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/civil-legal-aid-merits-criteria-amendment-no-2-regulations-2015/note
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.