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Lord Chancellor's Department
Press Notice
30 March 2000

 

THE ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT 1999
PROVISIONS COMING INTO EFFECT ON 1 APRIL 2000

Under the Access to Justice Act 1999, new provisions governing the Legal Services Commission, Rights of Audience and Conditional Fee Agreements come into effect on, or shortly after, 1 April 2000.

LEGAL SERVICES COMMISSION

The Legal Services Commission: Sections 1 - 3

1 April 2000: The Commission will be a new non-departmental public body that will establish, develop and maintain the Community Legal Service and the Criminal Defence Service. The Commission will be a pro-active body that allocates funds to priority areas through contracts, and works in partnership with local authorities and other funders of legal services. The Commission will be chaired by Peter G Birch CBE. Its full membership was announced on 10 March 2000 (LCD press notice 62-00).

Establishment of the Community Legal Service Fund: Section 5

1 April 2000: The Fund replaces the previous civil and family legal aid budget and will be administered by the Legal Services Commission. The monies within the Fund are fixed by the Lord Chancellor. In funding services, the Commission must aim to obtain the best possible
value-for-money. The Fund will make it easier to control legal aid expenditure and ensure that taxpayer's money is spent in the most cost-effective way.

Priorities and contracting: Section 6

1 April 2000: the Commission must set priorities to determine its spending out of the Fund. These priorities have already been set at both national and local levels and ensure that resources are spent on the areas of greatest need. Section 6 also allows the Commission to contract for legal services. Contracting has already been introduced under the Legal Aid Act and will be extended to cover all civil work by April 2001. Contracts have been (and will be) let to quality-assured providers only and to give effect to the identified priorities. Contracts also help to control expenditure and promote good value-for-money.

Establishment of the Funding Code: Sections 8 and 9

1 April 2000: All applications for funding out of the Community Legal Service Fund must meet the tests set out in the Funding Code, which replaces the civil merits test. The Code has been approved by Parliament. The Code gives effect to the Commission's priorities by setting less stringent tests for higher priority cases. It will be harder for lower-priority cases, such as money claims, to get funding than under the previous legal aid scheme; such cases will have to pass strict cost-benefit tests to ensure that funding is fully justified. The Code also provides that the Commission can refuse funding where alternative ways of resolving the dispute or funding the litigation are available to the applicant. The Code will ensure that limited public resources are spent on areas of greatest need and that unmeritorious cases are not funded.

Changes to the scope of the scheme: Section 6 and Schedule 2

1 April 2000: The scope of the scheme will remain broadly the same. The major change is the removal of most personal injury cases. The Government believes that the majority of these cases can be funded through conditional fee agreements (see below). Some funding will remain available for cases with high investigative or overall costs. It is important that limited public resources are focused on those priority cases where there is no alternative to public funding. Clinical negligence cases and other personal injury not caused by negligence (e.g. actions against the police for alleged assault) will remain within scope.

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