Changes to civil forms

The following forms have been amended and are mandatory from 1 November 2012:

• CLSAPP1 - Application for Civil Legal Aid Certificate
• CLSAPP3 - Application for Funding in Family Proceedings
• CLSMEANS1 - Financial Assessment Form
• CLSMEANS2 - Financial Assessment Form (for people on welfare benefits)

We have also introduced a new form to capture information for clients who are in prison.

• CLSMEANS1P - Supplementary Financial Assessment Form      

This is for completion by prisoners applying for funding.  The form is mandatory from 1 November, although may be used beforehand. As always, the CLSMeans1 will also need to be submitted.

Changes to crime forms

The following forms have been amended and are mandatory from 1 November 2012:

• CDS16 - Application for a review of legal aid in criminal proceedings on the grounds of hardship
• AF1 - Claim for Advocate Graduated Fee
• AF2 - Advocate Graduated Fee Redetermination Form
• LF1 - Graduated Fee Claim
• LF2 - Litigator Fee Review Form

To reduce form filling, we have introduced the following more specific forms which you can fill in instead of the LF1:   

• LF1 - for all LGFS fixed fee claims                                  
• LF1 - for interim disbursements incurred under LGFS               
• LF1 - for LGFS claims created online                              
• LF1 - when claiming a Special Preparation Fee under LGFS

1 November - mandatory deadline

All forms signed and dated on or after the 1 November must be the new versions. 

Old versions signed and dated on or before 31 October will be accepted until 30 November 2012 after which time they will be rejected.

October rejections

Although the new forms and guidance were published on our website before they changed on 1 October, we did not publish a news story to highlight this. 

We apologise and have extended the deadline for usage of the old forms by one month, until 31 October.

If your form has been rejected because you weren't aware of the change and submitted an old version of the form, please resubmit your form.  If you include the letter rejecting your form, we will prioritise your form and process it as quickly as we can.

Submitting other documents

It is important that all relevant documents are sent in with your claims and that they are also submitted inside the deadlines.

Any claims submitted outside the deadlines need to clearly identify the exceptional circumstances that led to the late submission.

Claims submitted outside the deadline without an accompanying explanation will be delayed and / or rejected.

Information on LSC website

Information and guidance has been published on the LSC's website:

Civil forms

Crime forms