The Civil Legal Aid (Financial Resources and Payment for Services) (Amendment) Regulations 2017

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Civil Legal Aid (Financial Resources and Payment for Services) Regulations 2013 (S.I. 2013/480) (“the 2013 Regulations”). The 2013 Regulations make provision about the rules the Director of Legal Aid Casework (“the Director”) must apply to determine whether an individual’s financial resources are such that the individual is eligible for civil legal services under Part 1 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (c. 10). Chapters 3 and 4 of Part 2 of the 2013 Regulations provide the rules on calculating income and capital respectively. Regulation 24(1) and (2) of the 2013 Regulations require the Director to disregard certain payments when calculating an individual’s disposable income or gross income. Regulation 40 of the 2013 Regulations requires the Director to disregard certain payments when calculating an individual’s disposable capital.

Regulation 2 of these Regulations amends regulations 24 and 40 of the 2013 Regulations, to permit the Director to disregard when calculating disposable income, gross income and disposable capital any payment made to an individual who is a victim of the fire at Grenfell Tower on 14th June 2017 provided that the payment has been made because the individual is a victim of that fire (other than direct payments from an individual known personally to the victim).

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sectors is foreseen.