This page gives information about
the availability of Legal Aid to abuse victims in accordance with
Government/Legal Aid guidelines. This page will be updated as soon as there is
any new developments like the News page
8th November
1999
Legal Aid is
available to the survivors of abuse because:-
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1. |
Under Schedule 2 Access to Justice Act 1999 Paragraph 1(a) allegations of negligently caused injury are excluded from Legal Aid. Abuse is not "negligently caused injury", but intentionally, or recklessly caused injury. |
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2. |
In the Report to The Lord Chancellor by the Legal Aid Board upon excluded services the following quotes are relevant |
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"Paragraph 1(a)" of Schedule 2 referred to above " only excludes allegations of "negligently caused" injury. It is not intended to exclude cases about personal injury arising form an alleged assault or deliberate abuse. Claims alleging assault or abuse by a public servant may well be brought against the responsible authority that employs him or her as well as or instead of the individual. The legal claim against the authority may be one of negligence. These claims are not prevented by paragraph 1(a), however, which looks at whether the injury itself was caused negligently or deliberately". |
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3. |
Public Interest |
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"Public Interest is a priority factor" .... "We define public interest cases as those which have the potential to produce real benefits for other members of the public. In deciding whether a case has a wider public interest, we will not usually take the competing interests of different sections of the public into account" The Board will support borderline cases (under 50% chance of success) where " the case is of overwhelming importance to the client or has a wider public interest" |
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4. |
Support Funding |
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Unlikely to affect Child Abuse Compensation Claims, but the idea is that in high investigative cost cases the Legal Aid Board can be issued for investigative work until you have satisfied yourself that you have a good enough case to support the rest of the case by other means ie Conditional Fee agreements. Disbursements should exceed £1000 and solicitors costs £5000. If you win the Board may keep some of your success fee. This may apply to say abuse of the elderly case where Conditional fee agreements are an option. |
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5. |
Very Expensive Cases and Multi Party Actions |
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Those over £25,000 are included in this category. The usual contract tendering rules apply. The unit has said however that Child abuse case are very unlikely to be dealt with under the tendering regulations, as it is important that the vulnerable client should not be restricted in his choice of solicitor |
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In other words
Legal Aid is available where the injury is not negligently caused whether or
not the action is in negligence. eg. Police Assault, Abuse
For more information see the Legal Aid Board Web Site