1991 No. 524
LEGAL AID AND ADVICE, ENGLAND AND WALES

The Civil Legal Aid (General) (Amendment) Regulations 1991

Made
Laid before Parliament
Coming into force
Regulation 3(2)
Remainder
The Lord Chancellor, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 6(2), 31(3), 34 and 43 of the Legal Aid Act 19881 having had regard to the matters specified in section 34(9) and consulted the General Council of the Bar, the Law Society, and with the consent of the Treasury, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation and commencement1.

(1)

These Regulations may be cited as the Civil Legal Aid (General) (Amendment) Regulations 1991.

(2)

Regulation 3(2) shall come into force on 1st July 1991 and the other regulations shall come into force on 1st April 1991.

Interpretation2.

In regulation 3 of these Regulations a regulation referred to by number means a regulation so numbered in the Civil Legal Aid (General) Regulations 19892.

Amendment of the Civil Legal (General) Regulations 19893.

(1)

In paragraph (2) of regulation 104 the words after “Part 1,” shall be deleted and there shall be inserted the words “paragraph 1(1)(a) to the Legal Aid in Criminal and Care Proceedings (Costs) Regulations 19893 as if the work done was work to which those provisions apply, save that paragraph 2 and 3 of Schedule 1, Part I shall not apply.”.

(2)

In regulation 105—

(a)

After paragraph (2) there shall be inserted the following new paragraph—

“(2A)

Where proceedings have begun and the solicitor is of the opinion that the total amount which he and counsel (if any) would receive after taxation on the standard basis would not be more than £500 he must apply to the Area Director for an assessment of the amount of his costs and counsel’s fees (if any) in respect of the work done.”

(b)

In paragraph (3) before the word “Where” there shall be inserted the words “Subject to paragraph (2A),” and for the figure “£500” there shall be substituted the figure “£1,O00”.

Mackay of Clashfern, C.

We consent,

Sydney Chapman
Irvine Patnick
Two of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury
(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Civil Legal Aid (General) Regulations 1989 by—

(1)

excluding from the assessment of costs under the Regulations the provisions of the Legal Aid in Criminal and Care Proceedings (Costs) Regulations 1989 which allow for reduction and enhancement of the prescribed rates; and

(2)

requiring bills estimated to be not more than £500 to be assessed by the Legal Aid Board and increasing the amount at which the Board may assess bills from £500 to £1,000.