Means Testing
On October 2nd 2006, the Criminal Defence Service Act 2006 came into force. This piece of legislation was designed to reduce the amount of people who were able to claim legal aid by introducing means testing. The government's stated aims are to: -
- Ensure that the taxpayer receives best value for money;
- Balance the responsibility between the rights of the individual and that to the taxpayer;
- Save £3 million per month through the reform of the criminal legal aid system within magistrates’ courts;
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Improve management control over the legal aid system and the way in which the fund is spent.
How it Works
People who earn over a certain amount of money (and those that can’t “justify” requiring a lawyer) must go before a magistrates' court unrepresented, or pay privately for a criminal lawyer.
The means testing idea looks good on paper: those who earn over a certain amount must now pay for their own defence. All well and good, when applied to premiership footballers claiming legal aid, but the bar to receiving legal aid has been placed at a ludicrously low level: -
- Those earning less than £11,590 will automatically qualify;
- Those earning above £20,740 will automatically be disqualified;
- Those earning in between must have less than £3,156 annual disposable income in order to qualify.
These are not high sums, and disqualify low-medium income people from being entitled to a free defence.
The New Policy Institute has conducted its own research and its analysis reveals that the clear majority of adults in England and Wales are now no longer eligible for criminal legal aid. From now on therefore, legal aid in the Magistrates’ Court is restricted to people not in work and those in working households with the lowest incomes, chiefly those where part-time work only is being done. This is a dramatic shift in eligibility - three quarters of adults in households where at least one person is doing paid work are now no longer eligible for legal aid (these 20 million people make up the great bulk of the 22 million in total who are no longer eligible).
(The other way people are being disqualified is in “the interests of justice”; this involves asking the defendant why (s)he feels that (s)he deserves legal representation. Suitable grounds include the likelihood of going to prison, complexity of any legal issues in the case or possibility of loss of earnings/reputation).
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In November 2008 The Legal Services Commission and the Ministry of Justice published a joint consultation paper on the reintroduction of means testing for legal aid for crown court proceedings. The propose a contributory scheme where everyone tried at a Crown Court will be offered legal aid, but those found guilty will have to repay the taxpayer for the cost of their defence (on average £2500). One of the arguments advanced is that "this may encourage those who have committed an offence to plead guilty at an early stage and avoid the expense of a trial". The scheme also envisages changes to Recovery of Defence Costs Orders. The results of that consultation are expected to be published in Easter 2009. |