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Accessible legal tips, know-how and news for anyone with a complaint or legal issue from Stephen Gold, author of The Return of Breaking Law, the book

Friday 19 February 2021

Legal Aid: Financial Eligibility Rules Eased

The Legal Aid scheme for a civil as opposed to a criminal case is still there but it has shrunk to the size of my pen top. You will know if it is available for your case because you will have applied and been turned down on the ground that you had too much money even though you did not realise you were so well off. You might be able to apply again thanks to changes in the financial eligibility rules which have recently come into force.

If you owed more than £100,000 on your mortgage, the excess over that figure was ignored. No more. The whole mortgage debt will now be reckoned. And certain one-off payments made to you will be disregarded when it comes to assessing the amount of your capital. These  are compensation payments from some certain UK government and UK charitable schemes that support victims of state error and serious incidents. Infected blood support and criminal injuries compensation are among them. 

Good luck.