Legal Aid and Education (Restoration, Accessibility and Extension) Bill

A BILL TO provide a funding pool for readers of law to have the ability to dispense advice as part of their qualification and training, in order to assist pressures on the judicial services; reintroduce legal aid for certain cases; reincorporate certain matters from the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012; provide accessible and online legal advice for individuals in remote areas via the Citizens’ Advice Bureau network of charitable services; and for connected purposes.

BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

Section 1: Definitions

1) Readers of law are defined as undergraduate or post-graduate students at a registered university in the United Kingdom studying law on a course enabling official accreditation.

2) The Director of Legal Aid Casework is the chief executive of the Legal Aid Agency, as constituted through standing orders—

a) The Legal Aid Agency and its Director of Legal Aid Casework are independent of the Lord Chancellor in their function and operation.

3) “Citizens Advice” are a network of independent charities providing assistance for consumers experiencing money, legal and consumer problems which are funded by Her Majesty’s Government.

4) A “Citizens Advice Bureau” is a local division of this network intended to serve consumers in a small geographical region.

Section 2: Immediate replacement of existing legislation

Part 1 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 is hereby repealed in part—

a) This excludes provisions relating to the Director of Legal Aid Casework, which will be reconstituted as Schedule 1 of this Bill.

b) Provisions relating to the Director of Legal Aid Casework are defined as provisions essential for the operation of the Director for Legal Aid Casework, particularly in operation alongside the Lord Chancellor.

c) Provisions relating to the Director of Legal Aid Casework also enable the operation of the Legal Aid Agency.

2) Schedule 1 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 is hereby repealed

3) Schedule 2 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 is hereby repealed

4) Schedule 3 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 is hereby repealed

5) Schedule 5 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 is hereby repealed

6) Provisions from the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 relating to the Director of Legal Aid casework will be reviewed by the Lord Chancellor.

7) The Access to Justice Act 1999, its schedules and provisions are hereby reintroduced, apart from—

a) those matters directly superseded by this Bill, particularly schedules reintroduced from the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012; and

b) provisions which would impede the function of the Legal Aid Agency or create parallel structures out of the remit of the Legal Aid Agency.

Section 3: Pro bono Legal Advice Fund

1) A fund is to be created by Her Majesty’s Government.

2) Law schools can apply for funding from this fund in order to pay solicitors to—

a) supervise law students to provide legal advice to those who fail the “means test” included and as defined in the Access to Justice Act 1999.

3) Those who fail the means test included in the Access to Justice Bill 1999 can only apply for assistance from those benefitting from the fund when the conditions stipulated as follows are met:-

a) The person receiving legal advice fails the means test as defined in Access to Justice Act 1999;

b) The law school who is receiving aid from the fund does not reduce the number of pro bono placements where law students offer legal advice for the five years preceding application;

c) The law school does not reduce the number of hours in a pro bono placement where law students offer legal advice for the five years preceding application.

Section 4: Online provision of advice services

1) A single online service will be implemented to—

a) provide accessible and online legal advice for individuals; and

b) to provide for those without access to a Citizens Advice Bureau in a reasonable proximity, as could be determined by an average individual.

2) This service will be implemented by the Citizens Advice network of charities, which are independent of but funded by Her Majesty’s Government.

3) Funding will be provided to the Citizens Advice network of charities via the Department for Work and Welfare to upgrade the existing website to have functionality to allow people to request and host a video call to receive legal advice.

4) This funding is expected to be streamlined alongside other departments’ funding of the Citizens Advice network of charities into a single budget by the Treasury at a later Budget.

Section 5: Estimated costs

1) Section 2 is expected to cost £350 million in direct costs to Her Majesty’s Government due to the reintroduction of services removed by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.

2) Section 3 is expected to cost £50 million to fund legal schools to pay for solicitors who supervise law students to provide legal advice to those who fail the means test under the Access to Justice Act 1998.

3) £4.5 million will be allocated for provisions in Section 4 from the Department for Work and Welfare budget in the first year.

a) The annual funding rate may then be adjusted by the Secretary of State and Her Majesty’s Treasury.

Section 6: Commencement, short title and extent

1) This Act will come into force 6 months after royal assent.

2) This Act may be cited as the Legal Aid and Education (Restoration, Accessibility and Extension) Act.

3) This Act extends to the entirety of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Written by /u/Purpleslug and /u/ContrabannedTheMC, and sponsored by the Conservatives, the RSP, the Green Party, the Labour Party, and the Liberal Democrats.

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