The Civil Legal Aid (Financial Resources and Payment for Services) Regulations 2013

PART 1 E+W Interpretation and General

Citation and commencement E+W

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Civil Legal Aid (Financial Resources and Payment for Services) Regulations 2013 and come into force on 1st April 2013.

Interpretation E+W

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“the Act” means the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012;

[F1 “the 2013 Regulations” means the Social Security (Payments on Account of Benefit) Regulations 2013;]

[F1 “the 2015 (Northern Ireland) Order” means the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015;]

[F1 “the 2016 (Northern Ireland) Regulations” means the Social Security (Payments on Account of Benefit) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016;]

“application” means an application for a determination in respect of civil legal services made in accordance with the Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) Regulations 2012 M1 ;

[F2 “the Caxton Foundation” means the charitable trust of that name (number 1142529) established on 28th March 2011 out of funds provided by the Secretary of State for the benefit of certain persons suffering from hepatitis C and other persons eligible for payment in accordance with its provisions;]

“certificate” means a certificate issued under the Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) Regulations 2012;

“child” means an individual under the age of 18;

“CPR” means the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 M2 and a reference to a Part or a rule, prefixed by “CPR”, means the Part or rule so numbered in the CPR;

[F2 “Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme” means—

(a)

the schemes established under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1995 or any arrangements for compensation by the Secretary of State for criminal injuries in operation before the commencement of those schemes;

(b)

the scheme established under the Criminal Injuries Compensation (Northern Ireland) Order 2002, or any earlier Northern Ireland criminal injuries compensation schemes in operation before the commencement of that scheme;]

“disposable income” and “disposable capital” mean, respectively, the income and capital of the individual, calculated in accordance with regulations 21 to 43;

[F2 “the Eileen Trust” means the charitable trust of that name (number 1028027) established on 29th March 1993 out of funds provided by the Secretary of State for the benefit of persons eligible for payment in accordance with its provisions;]

“Independent Living Fund (2006)” means the Trust of that name established by a deed dated 10th April 2006 and made between the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions of the one part and Margaret Rosemary Cooper, Michael Beresford Boyall and Marie Theresa Martin of the other part;

[F2 “the London Emergencies Trust” means the company of that name (number 09928465) incorporated on 23rd December 2015 and the registered charity of that name (number 1172307) established on 28th March 2017;]

[F2 “the Macfarlane Trust” means the charitable trust (number 298863), established on 22nd March 1988 partly out of funds provided by the Secretary of State to the Haemophilia Society, for the relief of poverty or distress among those suffering from haemophilia;]

[F2 “the Macfarlane (Special Payments) Trust” means the trust of that name, established on 29th January 1990 partly out of funds provided by the Secretary of State, for the benefit of certain persons suffering from haemophilia;]

[F2 “the Macfarlane (Special Payments) (No.2) Trust” means the trust of that name, established on 3rd May 1991 partly out of funds provided by the Secretary of State, for the benefit of certain persons suffering from haemophilia and other beneficiaries;]

[F2 “MFET Limited” means the company limited by guarantee (number 7121661) of that name, established for the purpose in particular of making payments in accordance with arrangements made with the Secretary of State to persons who have acquired HIV as a result of treatment by the NHS with blood or blood products;]

“multi-party action” means proceedings in which a number of individuals have a cause of action which involves common or related issues of fact or law;

[F2 “the National Emergencies Trust” means the registered charity of that name (number 1182809) established on 28th March 2019;]

“partner”, except in the expression “partner in a business”, means—

(a)

an individual's spouse or civil partner, from whom the individual is not separated due to a breakdown in the relationship which is likely to be permanent;

(b)

a person with whom the individual lives as a couple; or

(c)

a person with whom the individual ordinarily lives as a couple, from whom they are not separated due to a breakdown in the relationship which is likely to be permanent;

“provider” means a person who provides civil legal services under Part 1 of the Act (legal aid); and

[F2 “Relevant Infected Blood Support Scheme” means any of the following—

(a)

the England Infected Blood Support Scheme administered by the National Health Service Business Services Authority on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care;

(b)

the Infected Blood Payment Scheme for Northern Ireland, administered by the Business Services Organisation, Northern Ireland on behalf of the Department of Health, Northern Ireland;

(c)

the Scottish Infected Blood Support Scheme administered by the Common Services Agency (constituted by section 10 of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978); and

(d)

the Wales Infected Blood Support Scheme administered within the Velindre NHS Trust and the National Health Service Wales Shared Services Partnership.]

“revocation” means the withdrawal of a determination in circumstances in which the Director has exercised the power to revoke the determination under the Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) Regulations 2012 (and “revoked” has the equivalent meaning).

[F2 “the Skipton Fund” means the ex-gratia payment scheme administered by Skipton Fund Limited (number 05084964), incorporated on 25th March 2004, for the benefit of certain persons suffering from hepatitis C and other persons eligible for payment in accordance with the scheme’s provisions;]

[F2 “the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund” means the registered charity of that name (number 1173260) established on 30th May 2017;]

[F3 “the Windrush Compensation Scheme” means the scheme of that name launched on 3rd April 2019 and administered by the Home Office;]

[F3 “Windrush connected payment” means a payment where—

(a)

an individual has made a claim under the Windrush Compensation Scheme;

(b)

a request included in that claim has been referred by the Home Office to another person; and

(c)

the payment is made to the individual by that other person as a result of that referral;]

(2) For the purposes of these Regulations, a case is of significant wider public interest if the Director is satisfied that the case is an appropriate case to realise—

(a) real benefits to the public at large, other than those which normally flow from cases of the type in question; and

(b) benefits for an identifiable class of individuals, other than the individual to whom civil legal services may be provided or members of that individual's family.

(3) In paragraph (2), an individual is a member of another individual's family if the requirements of section 10(6) of the Act are met.

(4) A reference in these Regulations to a form of civil legal services means—

(a) legal help;

(b) help at court;

(c) family help (lower);

(d) family help (higher);

(e) family mediation;

(f) help with family mediation;

(g) legal representation; and

(h) other legal services,

which are further defined in Part 2 of the Civil Legal Aid (Merits Criteria) Regulations 2013 M3 .

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in reg. 2(1) inserted (28.7.2016) by The Civil and Criminal Legal Aid (Financial Eligibility and Contributions) (Amendment) Regulations 2016 (S.I. 2016/708), regs. 1, 7(2)

F2 Words in reg. 2(1) inserted (8.1.2021) by The Civil Legal Aid (Financial Resources and Payment for Services) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1584), regs. 1(2), 2(2)

F3 Words in reg. 2(1) inserted (1.5.2019) by The Legal Aid (Financial Resources and Contribution Orders) (Amendment) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/894), regs. 1, 2(2)

Marginal Citations

M1 S.I. 2012/3098.

M2 S.I. 1998/3132. There have been numerous amendments, with the relevant Parts of the CPR consolidated, in amended form, in S.I. 2013/262.

M3 S.I. 2013/104.

Delegation E+W

3.  A function of the Director under these Regulations may be exercised by a person authorised for that purpose by the Director, or by an employee of that person M4 .

Marginal Citations

M4 Section 6 of the Act (authorisations) makes provision for authorisations given for the purpose of section 5 of the Act (delegation) or regulations under that section.