Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012

6 Authorisations E+W

(1) An authorisation given for the purposes of section 5 or regulations under that section—

(a) may specify its duration,

(b) may specify or describe the authorised person,

(c) may be varied or revoked at any time by the person who gave it, and

(d) does not prevent the Lord Chancellor, the Director or another person from exercising the function to which the authorisation relates.

(2) Anything done or omitted to be done by or in relation to a person authorised under section 5(1) or regulations under section 5(2) (or an employee of such a person) in, or in connection with, the exercise or purported exercise of the function concerned is to be treated for all purposes as done or omitted to be done by the Lord Chancellor.

(3) Anything done or omitted to be done by or in relation to a person authorised under section 5(3) or regulations under section 5(4) (or an employee of such a person) in, or in connection with, the exercise or purported exercise of the function concerned is to be treated for all purposes as done or omitted to be done by the Director.

(4) Subsections (2) and (3)—

(a) do not affect the rights and liabilities of the authorised person or the Lord Chancellor under any arrangements made between them,

(b) do not prevent any civil proceedings which could otherwise be brought by or against the authorised person (or an employee of that person) from being brought,

(c) do not apply for the purposes of criminal proceedings brought in respect of anything done or omitted to be done by the authorised person (or an employee of that person), and

(d) do not make the Lord Chancellor or the Director liable under section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 in respect of any act or omission of an authorised person if the act or omission is of a private nature.

(5) Where—

(a) an authorisation given for the purposes of section 5 or regulations under that section is revoked, and

(b) at the time of the revocation so much of any contract made between the authorised person and the Lord Chancellor as relates to the exercise of the function is subsisting,

the authorised person is entitled to treat the contract as repudiated by the Lord Chancellor (and not as frustrated by reason of the revocation).

(6) In this section “authorised person” means a person authorised for the purposes of section 5 or regulations under that section.