Explanatory note

introducing a provision whereby a person whose application for legal aid is in respect of a claim for personal injuries, shall be eligible for legal aid if the applicant’s disposable income does not exceed £7,000 and legal aid may be available if his disposable capital does not exceed £8,000 (regulation 5);

omitting regulation 12 of the 1987 Regulations so that a child’s resources are separately assessed and are no longer taken to include sums payable for his maintenance (regulation 6);

amending regulation 13 of the 1987 Regulations to allow account to be taken of resources of which an applicant has deprived himself for whatever reason (regulation 7);

introducing a provision for the redetermination of a child’s disposable income, disposable capital or maximum contribution where a determination resulting in a contribution has been made prior to the commencement of these regulations (regulation 8);

preserving the dependants' allowances applicable at the beginning of the computation period (regulation 9);

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 10);

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 11).